


Eyes Like Stars

by malfoys_cousin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidental Bonding, Canon Universe, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith is also pining, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Pining Lance (Voltron), Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Space Uncle Coran (Voltron), allura is concerned, and super repressed, pidge does not have time for this, very drunk paladins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2018-11-06 04:48:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11028945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malfoys_cousin/pseuds/malfoys_cousin
Summary: In which Lance drinks too much alien alcohol, literally cannot get a grip on his embarrassingly huge crush on Keith, and accidentally ruins everything.Inspired by the prompt: “We drunk kissed but you forgot about it and I don’t know how to act around you anymore" until it took on a new life.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Глаза как звезды](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14095395) by [JJeyWill](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JJeyWill/pseuds/JJeyWill)



> Oh these beautiful space children. Finally posting new things because the Bae is holding my new Klance notebooks hostage until I do. I didn't realize how motivating that would be.
> 
> Standard disclaimer...I own literally nothing ever. Please enjoy :)

 

“Keith, Keith, Keef,” slurred Lance, clinging to Keith’s shoulders. A terrible idea because Keith kept knocking Lance’s elbows into the walls. But, like, it didn’t hurt that much and Keith’s shoulders were solid. Really strong and, like, a good amount of muscle. Except Keith didn’t usually let Lance touch him this much so he was going to take full advantage of the moment.

“Lance, Lance, Lance,” said Keith. He smiled and Lance forgot what he was going to say because that smile made him feel like he swallowed butterflies.

“I like when you smile,” said Lance reaching for Keith’s mouth and getting his hand stuck under Keith’s chin. “Hey, let’s play a game. I’m going to tell you things I like about you and you tell me things you like about me. This is going to take a long time I know it. I’m very likable.”

Lance grinned as Keith laughed, steering them into a tree, a strange blue alien tree. Allura told them something about this tree but Lance didn’t listen. Pidge kept talking like she was the queen of nature now—because she kind of was—but she used a lot of words when she could’ve summarized. Hunk could just tell him later, so it didn’t matter.

“I like when you shut up,” said Keith, the meanest person ever.

“That’s not how you play. You’re supposed to be nice.”

“I like…when you walk yourself.” Keith stumbled sideways, landing very painfully on top of Lance, still giggling. “I thought Allura said that yem-tem-whatever juice wasn’t supposed to be strong.”

“Maybe not to Alteans,” said Lance, reaching for his pocket. It took a couple of tries, but he pulled out a small flask and shoved it at Keith. “Here, finish mine.”

Keith took it and sat up, using the tree to lean back on. “I will.”

Lance propped himself up on his elbows while Keith brought the flask to his illegally red lips and drank. Shiro cut off their drinks, like, forever ago, but they weren’t in the banquet room anymore so there were no rules. And the Queen gave Lance the flask, so he couldn’t just refuse—that would be incredibly rude. Probably. Besides they were celebrating taking down another one of Zarkon’s robeasts. They just saved a whole planet! And man, the aliens here were, like, so good looking. Even with feathers instead of hair that looked so soft. Maybe Keith’s hair was soft too. He looked better than anyone here. It really wasn’t fair.

“What are you doing?” asked Keith his face bathed in moonlight, making him look ethereal.

“I like your hair,” said Lance. He climbed into Keith’s lap for a better reach, resting his elbow on Keith’s shoulder while he threaded his fingers up the back of Keith’s neck. “Like feathers but better.”

Keith leaned into Lance’s touch. “I thought you hated my hair.”

“I didn’t know it would be like this.” Lance put his other arm over Keith’s shoulder to run both hands through Keith’s hair, putting their faces only a few inches apart. Keith brushed the bangs out of his stormy eyes, soft and open as he watched Lance with parted lips. Lance could lean down and kiss him just like this.

He’d thought about it before. A lot. Too much.

“I like your eyes,” whispered Keith. He licked his lips and Lance swallowed hard, watching the motion. “Your turn.”

“I like…gravity,” said Lance, swaying as the ground spun.

Keith’s hands burned against Lance’s skin as they slipped under his shirt. “You’re supposed to say something about me.”

“I like…” Lance dropped his head back with a groan as Keith’s hands slid up his spine. “Your hands.” Keith’s hands blazed a hot trail back down to his hips as Lance gasped, his grip tightening on Keith’s hair.

“I like you,” Keith said into Lance’s shoulder. He glanced up at Lance, his face red and his eyes bright. Lance didn’t think he’d ever seen anything so gorgeous in his life.

“I’d like you to kiss me.”

Keith let out a strangled moan and leaned forward until his lips were on Lance’s, chapped and perfect. Lance licked into Keith’s mouth, sticky sweet from the drink, his nerves on fire. Keith’s fingers pressed bruises into Lance’s ribs as pulled Lance closer, their kiss sloppy and wet. Lance tugged Keith’s hair eliciting a growl that made Lance’s spine turn to jello. Keith pulled away, his hands over Lance’s as he dragging his fingers out of Keith’s hair. He laced their fingers together and gave Lance a fond smile, staring up at Lance through devastatingly long eyelashes.

“I love you,” whispered Keith, his voice heavy as he pressed wet lingering kisses to Lance’s neck. Lance shivered at his touch, his eyes fluttering closed.

Lance leaned forward, pressing their foreheads together. “I love you,” he promised.

Wind whipped at his hair, but he barely felt it. Keith slid sideways to the ground, smiling as Lance’s eyes opened in surprise. Keith pressed a chaste kiss to Lance’s lips before curling up beside him, their hands and legs twined together. Silver leaves fell down around them and Lance fought to keep his eyes open, desperate to engrave this moment in his memory forever.

 

Lance didn’t remember falling asleep, but he remembered waking up alone. His clothes were damp from the wet ground, and he peeled a leaf off his hip, shuddering at the feeling. He really hoped it wasn’t poisonous, especially since his skin sort of burned. He pushed his shirt down and sat up, immediately regretting it as the pounding in his head intensified. How much had he drank? Too much. He really should have listened to Shiro. At least the ground was soft enough that it didn’t totally ruin his back.

Lance rubbed his temples and squinted through the morning light. How had he made it out to the middle of the woods? And where was everyone else? They wouldn’t leave without him…right? Right?

Heart pounding, Lance stumbled around the trees until he reached the clearing where the Castle had first landed. He climbed over a shrub and walked directly into Keith rounding a tree.

“There you are,” said Keith, clutching Lance’s arms to keep him from falling backward. “We’re about to leave.”

Lance felt all of his blood rush to his face as he stared at Keith. They kissed. That happened. The memory was a little fuzzy, but now that he was staring at Keith, he remembered. Did he actually touch Keith’s hair? Why? Well, obviously he knew why he did it, but he could have been a little smoother about the whole ordeal. Except…he kissed Keith! Even better, Keith kissed him! And then there were silver leaves? Okay, that part doesn’t matter. Keith kissed Lance!

“Are you okay?” asked Keith. He didn’t look the slightest bit embarrassed or even all that hungover, which was not fair. Maybe he wanted to kiss Lance. Maybe he actually liked Lance back. They could have been kissing this whole time! “You look…sick.”

“What?” spluttered Lance—mostly because that was a rude thing to say.

“Oh, here,” said Keith handing him a water pouch. “This should help.”

“Thanks,” said Lance, feeling shy. Were they boyfriends? Or just, like, dating? Would they go on dates? Were things going to be weird now? What would the rest of the team think? Should they tell everyone like now, or wait and see how things go?

“Do you know how we ended up out there?” asked Keith, rubbing his face. “I don’t even remember going outside, and then I woke up under some tree while you were snoring next to me.”

“I do not snore!” protested Lance, taking a long drink of water. He nearly dropped the pouch when the realization hit him, his blood running cold. “You…you don’t remember last night…like at all?”

Keith shrugged. “I remember Coran getting up to make a toast, but nothing after that. Why? Did something happen?”

“Keith, Lance, let’s go!” yelled Shiro.

“I don’t know,” said Lance, his mouth dry. “I don’t remember either.” He took a long drink of water as Keith stepped back toward the castle, his heart in his stomach.

 

 

“Hunk, this is an emergency!” Lance burst into the kitchen, and narrowed his eyes at Pidge who was sitting on the counter. “Pidge, get out.”

“I was here first,” she said, not looking up from her computer.

“How much of an emergency?” asked Hunk. “Like Zarkon is like about to kill us, or you just heard Shiro singing again? Because that’s still not an emergency.”

“It should be,” grumbled Pidge. “I think he might be part banshee.”

“Right?” said Lance throwing up his arms. “I didn’t know that anyone could make those kinds of noises, like, on purpose.”

“It’s not that bad,” said Hunk, holding something that vaguely resembled a pie with a greenish crust. Lance moved closer and sniffed it as Hunk pulled out a large knife. “It smells like spaghetti.”

“It’s supposed to be some kind of fruit.” Hunk cut a slice and slid it onto a plate. “Want to try it?” The “pie” wiggled like jello before collapsing into a blueish puddle. Hunk poked it with a spoon and it reformed into the slice shape.

“I’m going to pass,” said Lance, shuddering at the thought of that happening inside of his stomach.

“So what’s the emergency?” asked Pidge. “Is it about your huge crush on Keith?” She asked, her eyes glinting as she smirked.

Lance blanched. “I don’t have a crush! On Keith! Why would you—”

“So that’s a yes,” said Pidge, hopping off the counter. “I’m going back to the lab.”

Lance dropped his head onto the counter wishing it would just open up and swallow him whole. It was bad enough that Keith had apparently no flipping idea that he and Lance kissed back on Heiloth, but Lance still had that stupid leaf burn on his hip. Three weeks and it hadn’t gotten remotely better. He even used some Altean healing paste that Coran gave him after that time he got splashed by acid. Except it hadn’t made any difference. Lance really didn’t want to explain to Coran how a leaf had managed to get stuck there because Keith’s hands had been all up his shirt, because then he’d be admitting that he remembered that night with Keith. As if his stupid crush hadn’t been bad enough before, now Lance knew what it was actually like to kiss Keith. And he…Couldn’t. Stop. Thinking. About. It.

But Keith stayed infuriatingly oblivious as ever. Like just now while Lance was minding his own business in the observatory and Keith just had to walk in shirtless with purple _pergoine_ juice running down his chest. Lance’s heart just about exploded and he had to run out of the room while Keith yelled something. How was he supposed to listen with Keith standing there looking like that much sin? Who thought it was a good idea to let Keith eat anything while shirtless? How was Lance supposed to deal with that image burned into his brain?

Lance scratched at the burn on his hip. “I hate Keith, he’s ruining my life.”

“Mmm,” said Hunk, inspecting a purple tube. “But on the subject, you should probably tone yourself down. You actually growled at Allura when she helped Keith to his feet in training yesterday—it was kind of creepy.”

“He’s making me insane! Like actually insane!” Lance banged his head down on the counter. “How do I make it stop?”

Hunk slid the “pie” slice back into the tin and the whole thing collapsed only to reform a second later. “You could tell him how you feel so it’s out in the open. It might help you feel better about it.”

“I can’t just tell him! He doesn’t even remember the—” Lance closed his mouth so hard his teeth clacked together audibly.

Hunk focused on him with narrowed eyes, brandishing the spoon. “Remember what? Is this about that night after we blew up that weird goo robeast? Because you and Keith just like disappeared until morning. Pidge and I went looking for you because I saw the Queen slip you more of that yetemerine juice, and you and Keith already had like twice as much as the rest of us.”

“No, besides we told you guys we didn’t even remember that night.”

“Dude, then why are you blushing?”

“I’m not!” Lance put his hands over his cheeks while Hunk rolled his eyes. “Okay, so maybe something happened, but Keith doesn’t remember so it doesn’t matter.”

“What, did you guys, like, kiss or something?” Lance said nothing, but he didn’t need to, judging by the wide-eyed look on Hunk’s face.

Lance banged his head down on the counter again, wincing at the pain. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Now you should really tell him,” said Hunk putting a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “Maybe he feels the same way and is just too scared to tell you. He’s not exactly good at feelings.”

“Or he’ll be totally mortified and I’ll die of shame.” Lance stood up, rubbing his sore forehead. “I think I’ll just keep on pretending that it never happened.”

Hunk gave him uneasy look. “You might want to try harder. Shiro’s already asked me why you’re being so weird. And pretty soon, he’s going to give you another ‘dad talk’ about staying focused.”

Lance reached over to poke the “pie” and it collapsed again turning a murky orange. “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” he said, waving a hand dismissively. “It was just a drunken kiss”

“If you say so,” said Hunk, “Don’t forget you promised to spar with him before training today.”

Lance groaned. Why did he torture himself like this? He tossed a spoon at the pie tin. It rattled ominously before shooting off the counter and sticking to the ceiling with a loud squelching noise. The spoon fell hitting Lance hard in the nose. Of course.

 

"Yes!" said Lance catching Keith off guard and knocking him to the ground. "I won! I'm the best! Bow to your leader!"

Lance felt a lot better about extra training when he actually beat Keith at anything. Sweet, sweet victory.

"Why would I bow to Shiro?" asked Keith. He didn't push Lance off, and Lance was in no hurry to get up.

"Uh, no. It's me. I'm your leader. Duh."

"I can't exactly bow to you if you're sitting on top of me."

Lance sighed. "Keith, buddy, you're not getting it."

"Maybe you're not getting it."

"I do too get it." Lance held out his arms in triumph. "I'm the greatest warrior of all time!"

"I don't think so."

"Don't ruin the moment, Keith!"

"Uh, hey Lance," said Hunk with a strange look on his face as he stood in the doorway of the training deck.

"Why are you straddling Keith?" finished Pidge, her arms crossed.

"Aw, guys I just won!" whined Lance, ignoring the look on Hunk’s face. Sparring was a totally normal activity, and had nothing to do with Lance’s crush. "You didn't even see it."

Pidge and Hunk gave each other significant looks. Keith pushed Lance off and got to his feet, his face red. Lance ignored the flutter of hope in his stomach. Keith didn’t have feelings for him—he just hated losing to Lance. Especially with Shiro walking in the room with an armful of training swords. Lance was going to end up with so many bruises today.

"Whatever. It's one time," said Keith. "Besides, I let you win."

Lance scowled at him. What the quiznak? "No you didn't! I beat you fair and square. You don't have to be such a sore loser!"

"The only loser is you!"

"Guys," said Shiro holding the back of Keith's shirt to keep him from tackling Lance. "Knock it off."

"He started it!" yelled Lance, pulling his arms out of Hunk’s reach. 

Shiro stepped between them, eyebrows furrowed. "And I'm finishing it. Both of you are going to run laps."

"For how long?" asked Keith, still glaring at Lance. Like his total overreaction was Lance’s fault.

"Until the two of you get along."

"So, forever," said Pidge with a smirk.

"But, that's not fair!" said Lance. "I didn't even do anything."

"Go," said Shiro. 

Keith pulled on his shoes without a word and started jogging around the training deck. Lance, grumbling and moaning, followed after him. His shirt stuck to his back, and the burn on his hip throbbed with every step. Pidge and Hunk went through six different simulations before Shiro called him and Keith back over to join them.

"Are you two ready to be civil?" asked Shiro. 

Keith gave him a solemn nod before glaring at Lance. Keith was flushed from running, his hair wild and Lance forced himself to look away.

“Yes, sir,” he said, winking as Shiro rolled his eyes.  

 

By the end of training, Lance was so tired he could barely stand. He mopped the sweat from his forehead on Pidge’s shoulder, laughing as she pushed him away spitting half-formed insults.

"Lance," said Shiro, catching his arm. "Can I talk to you?"

"Somebody's in trouble," sang Pidge under her breath. Lance stuck out his tongue at her, because he was very mature.  

Shiro kicked playfully at her ankles. "Go."

Hunk gave Lance a sympathetic smile before walking out with Keith. Lance steeled himself for yet another “dad-talk” about his behavior. At least Shiro didn’t do them in front of everyone anymore.

"What's been going on with you?" asked Shiro. "You and Keith haven't fought this much since we first got here. You know there are no rivalries anymore. We’re a team."

"I know," said Lance, dodging Shiro's attempt to make eye contact. "He's just such a hothead."

"Why do you let it get to you? You know what Keith is like. In order to work as a team we need to accept each other as we are."

"I know," mumbled Lance, scratching at his hip. 

"Maybe you and Keith should spend more time together," said Shiro gently. "Outside of training. I know he’s not as social as you, but I think you could really help him break out of his shell.”

"I don’t think he’ll want to.”

"You’re a team," said Shiro, clapping a hand on Lance's shoulder. "Just think about it?"

Like Lance ever stopped thinking about Keith. "Yeah, okay. I guess I can try."

How was he going to get broody, loner Keith to hang out with him? Especially after spending the last three weeks trying to ignore him. And then there was the matter of That Night that Keith apparently didn’t even remember and Lance couldn’t stop remembering. He tried ignoring Keith, but it’s not like he could escape him. They did everything together. Even today, Keith asked Lance to spar before training. He wasn’t just going to say no to that! Maybe he should’ve.

Lance clenched his hands into fists. But he wanted to spend time with Keith. They were actually getting along until Lance had to go and develop a silly crush and ruin everything. Telling Keith would make everything worse—probably pull the whole team apart. Voltron was more important than Lance’s stupid feelings.

 

Everyone else was already eating by the time he and Shiro arrived. Lance accepted a bowl of space goo from Coran and sat next to Hunk with his elbows on the table to prop himself up. After this, he was definitely going to take a nap. Keith can wait—it’s not like Shiro gave him a time frame for them to be best friends or whatever.

Allura paced back and forth, swiping at some kind of small portable screen. Pidge followed Allura’s steps, staring misty eyed at the device. Lance swallowed and stared wistfully at table. Sleeping here wouldn’t be so bad. Less walking—and maybe Hunk would feel sorry for him and carry him back to bed. Man, Hunk was a great friend. He probably would.

Keith yawned, covering his mouth with his hand to keep his food from falling out. Gross. Why did Lance just have to develop feelings for that? He shook his head as though it could clear out all of the affection that flooded up from his chest.

The burn on his hip flared making him drop his spoon with a clatter. Keith let out a hiss of pain, his hand flying to rub the back of his neck.

Allura stopped pacing to stare at Keith. She rushed forward, startling them all as she pushed Keith’s head down with a distressed sound. “When did you get this?”

“I-I don’t know,” said Keith his hands gripping the table edge. “What are you talking about?”

“Coran, come look at this.”

“What’s going on?” asked Shiro, eyes darting from Allura to Coran. Lance got up and moved around the table near Keith. He stood on his toes leaning on Coran’s shoulder to get a look.

“Oh dear,” said Coran.

There was a leaf shaped burn on the back of Keith’s neck, identical to the one on Lance’s hip. Lance stepped back, trying to force his face into something nonchalant. So it really was a poison tree. Now he wouldn’t be the only one getting yelled at for doing something stupid like sleeping under a poison tree. Haha, he totally lasted longer than Keith.

“Why? What is it?”

“It’s…a _shaesa_ mark,” said Allura taking wary step back. “A bond mark.”

“Bond? To what?” said Keith, his hand over his neck as he stared at Allura with wide eyes.

“Wait, from that tree on Heiloth? The Meilian Tree?” asked Pidge, moving forward. She stood on her tiptoes moving Keith’s hand out of the way as she inspected the mark.

“Which tree, exactly?” asked Hunk, crowding around Keith as well.

Keith pushed them away, his hand pressed to the back of his neck. He knocked over his chair in haste as he moved closer to Shiro. “Can someone just tell me what this is?”

“You’re bonded,” said Allura, worrying her hands together. “It’s like… Coran?”

“Like a soulmate?” said Shiro gently. Keith whirled around to stare at him breathing heavily.

“Yes, I suppose that’s a good way to put it,” said Coran, twirling his mustache.

Soulmate? Keith met his soulmate? Lance ignored the sinking feeling in his chest as Hunk shot him a sympathetic look.

“The Heilothian legend was that the Meilian tree creates an everlasting bond when love is first confessed below its branches. If their love is true, the tree sheds its leaves and the couple is branded with _shaesa_ marks to show their eternal bond. But, most Heilothians don’t ever perform such a ceremony, since it’s so rare that the two were meant to be together,” said Allura.

Lance’s head spun as he clutched Pidge’s shoulder for support. No way. They couldn’t…it was just a kiss. A drunken kiss. Keith didn’t even love him! This wasn’t real…they couldn’t be…

“Lance?” said Hunk, sounding far away. “Are you okay?”

He hit the floor hard and everything went black.

 


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance deals with some…unexpected feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being the worst, but here have this update! I think I made it just in time for Lance's birthday so hooray!
> 
> Also, my apologies for any mistakes. I just wanted to get this up!

Lance blinked a few times, staring up at everyone surrounding him. What was he doing on the floor? Did Shiro knock him out on accident again? That would explain why everyone looked so concerned—Shiro could pack a serious hit. But he definitely didn't feel like he'd gotten hit by a bus like the last time, so maybe not. His head was a little sore, and the mark on his hip burned something furious. But no other obvious signs of getting knocked out. 

Lance’s eyes were drawn to Keith, his fury radiating out like a wet heat making it almost hard to breathe. What was he so mad about? The last time Lance had gotten knocked out, he had laughed. 

Lance sat up, waving away Hunk’s hands. “What happened?”

“I'm pretty sure you fainted,” said Pidge, crouching down and flashing a bright light in his eyes.  
“But it doesn’t look like you have a concussion.”

Lance stuck out his tongue at her. “No way. I did not faint.”

“Do you have any unexplained marks?” asked Allura sharply, her mouth pulled into a tight frown. “That you've noticed since we left Heiloth?”

Oh no. No way. Play it cool, Lance. 

He avoided looking Allura in the eyes. “Uh why?” 

“Your hip has been bothering you, right?” asked Shiro, crouching down beside him. “For a few weeks now.”

“No.” Technically, it wasn't his hip that was the real source, so that wasn't a real lie. Well played. 

“Lift up your shirt,” demanded Allura. 

“What? No!” And okay, maybe under different circumstances he would have been more than happy to comply. But not right now. Not with Keith’s anger flooding over his senses making him feel jittery and unfocused. 

He somersaulted backwards in an attempt to make a break for it. It wouldn't exactly help him look any less guilty but at least it would give him a chance to figure out what the quiznak he was going to say about the whole thing. 

Pidge moved faster, blocking his path and yanking up the hem of his shirt in one smooth movement. He tried to cover up the mark with his hand, but Shiro grabbed his wrist. His entire body seemed to be trying to lite itself on fire as he squirmed out of their reach, holding the edge of his shirt. He could feel himself blushing, which of course only made it worse.  
Keith's fury dampened into something different, more…frantic. Disbelief? Shock, maybe?

“Lance, what do you remember from that night?” asked Allura stepping forward. 

“I told you I don't—”

“Lance,” said Hunk. “Come on, just tell them.”

Lance stared at the floor. This could not be happening. Of all the stupid, embarrassing things he could have done that night. He should have stayed with Hunk. Or actually listened to Shiro for once. But, of course not. 

“Not a lot, just that we—me and Keith—snuck outside and we…uh, kissed a bit…I guess.” Or actually, a lot. He snuck a glance at Keith and regretted it, not needing to see the look of horror as the feeling was pushed at him, hot and prickly. 

“Is that all you remember?” asked Shiro, putting a comforting hand on Lance's shoulder. 

Lance nodded. Keith's hands up his shirt probably wasn't a detail they needed to know. But everything else blurred together. It only made it worse that Keith didn't remember, like he wasn't equally involved in the whole thing. 

“So perhaps you may have admitted feelings for one another,” said Allura carefully, like someone standing on very thin ice. She and Shiro exchanged a look that made Pidge snigger.

“This is a mistake,” said Keith, looking pale as his anger went frantic and cold. “I don't…I can't be bonded with Lance! How do we get rid of it?”

Lance sucked in a breath. Keith might as well have just walked over and kicked him in the stomach with that one. He knew this could happen—that his stupid, silly crush could ruin the team. 

“I don't think it works like that,” said Pidge, her eyes darting suspiciously between Lance and Keith. “You can't just break a magic bond. It would be like…”

“Like trying to break an Unbreakable Vow?” suggested Hunk.

“Exactly,” said Pidge, looking smug. “And everyone knows you can't break an Unbreakable vow.” Her and Hunk high-fived. Nerds. Lance couldn't fathom why she even found any joy in this. 

Keith was pushing a feeling of dread at Lance. He was already feeling on his own and really didn't need the added emphasis.

“I'll contact the Queen and see if she can tell us anything else,” said Allura striding out of the room. 

Coran shrugged. “I admit I don't know much about Heilothian bonding. But I'll check the archives for something.” He rushed out after Allura looking grateful to leave. 

“For now, I think we should all—”

“I'm going to the training deck,” said Keith, cutting off Shiro. He strode out the door without so much as a glance back at Lance. Not that it mattered. Lance felt Keith's radiating anger fade as he left, finally giving Lance a chance to think clearly.

“I'll go make sure he doesn't do something impulsive and stupid,” said Pidge with a tired sigh. 

“Maybe you should get some rest. We’ll figure this out,” said Shiro, his hand tightening on Lance's shoulder.

Lance nodded, and Hunk helped him to his feet as his limbs shook with exhaustion as the adrenaline faded.

 

After an hour or so struggling to fall asleep and totally failing, Lance gave up and wandered into the control room. Shiro and Keith stood together by the wall talking in low voices. Keith gave off calmer waves now—cool like the ocean. Lance yawned and dropped into Pidge’s chair with her, ignoring her yelp of surprise. 

“We’re waiting to hear from Allura,” said Pidge, begrudgingly allowing Lance to rest his head on her shoulder. “She’s still talking to the Queen.”

Lance blinked heavily at Pidge’s screen, feeling less tired the longer he sat there. The bone deep exhaustion faded just enough that he could form coherent thoughts again. Keith stared at him, the cool calm morphing into agitation. When Shiro put a hand on Keith’s shoulder, it felt like a douse of cold water, pushing Keith’s anger back down. But Lance could still feel it hovering just below the surface. 

Lance stared at Pidge. She wasn’t radiating anything like Keith did as she hunched over her screen, her elbows tucked into her sides. Hunk snoring in his chair wasn’t giving off any emotions either. How long had he been able to feel Keith’s emotions? Was this something else about the bond? Could Keith feel his emotions? 

“I've spoken to the Queen of Heiloth,” said Allura striding in with the mice on her shoulders. 

“Can we break the bond?” asked Keith eagerly. Too eagerly. Lance took slow breaths to keep his face neutral. 

“No,” said Allura, and Lance couldn't help the small feeling of relief. “And she couldn't believe you'd want to. But there are things you'll have to start doing to help the situation.”

“Like what?” 

She glanced at Shiro, like she was looking for his support. “It would be best for you to share a room.”

“Why?” growled Keith, his face so red it nearly blended in with his jacket. “We're not… married!”

“You kind of are,” muttered Pidge. Lance turned to stare at her. What was that supposed to mean? Just the bond? Or something else? Was Pidge going to tell everyone about his crush?

“Pidge, not the time,” said Shiro in warning, as Keith’s anger boiled. Lance blinked hard, trying to push past the hot, dizzy feeling of Keith’s anger.

Allura clasped her hands in front of her. “The bond draws energy from both of you and the only way to replenish that energy is by physical contact.”

“Are you saying we have to…” Lance shot a sideways glance at Keith and swallowed hard. 

“Consummate the bond?” asked Pidge as though that was a totally normal thing to just blurt out in front of everyone. Lance's face started on fire and Keith looked like he'd been shot by Blue’s ice ray. 

“No,” said Allura looking just as flustered as Lance felt. “Any physical contact would suffice, even if you just hold hands. If you go too long without any contact, you'll start feeling the effects of the energy drain.”

“So, we're basically attached at the hip for the rest of our lives?” asked Lance. 

“There are many advantages to being bonded as well,” said Allura.

“Like what?” said Keith, his gaze fixed on the floor. 

“There were those two warriors,” said Pidge, patting Lance’s knee. “They used their bond in battles.”

“Oh right, wasn't that what the mirror dance was about?” asked Hunk. “That was really awesome. Do you guys get to learn how to do that?”

“They were an incredible team.” Allura moved forward and put a hand on Lance's shoulder. “Although these are generally seen as a romantic bond, you don't need to treat it that way.”

“Except for the whole bed sharing,” muttered Lance. Keith glared at the floor, flooding Lance with his anger and Lance rubbed at the mark on his hip like that might help. 

“You're sure there's no way to reverse it?” asked Keith. 

“Not other than death, but even that is unclear.”

“So, like besides the whole energy stuff, everything else is the same? So, we can still just be teammates and everything with like extra touching?” asked Lance. That didn't sound so bad. Maybe he caused the bond, but if all they have to do is hold hands some more…that wouldn't be totally awful. Especially if he didn’t think about the fact that he’d be forced to pine after Keith like a lovesick puppy for all of eternity.

“What happens if one of us dies?” asked Keith. 

Allura looked stricken and Hunk let out an involuntary yelp of horror. 

“Going to murder me, mullet?” Lance curled in closer to Pidge just in case, because seriously?

“No, I just wanted to know how it would affect the team.”

“That's super morbid, dude.” Hunk also stepped closer to Lance, and Lance felt Keith's anger subside into guilt. 

“I just mean…it's a possibility with how much danger we face. I was just…”

“How about we worry about that when we need to,” said Shiro. Keith ducked his head, crossing his arms across his chest like a shield. 

“Coran, what room should we put them in?” asked Allura. 

Coran brought them to room with a larger bed, just down the hall from their previous rooms. Keith dumped his stuff on the floor and hightailed out, muttering about training. Hunk helped Lance move his things, which wasn't much more than what Keith had, but he actually put his stuff away. 

“Man, I don't think I've ever seen you this tired,” said Hunk, catching Lance by the elbow before he tilted too far and fell off the bed. 

Lance blinked slowly, the room unfocused as he fought to stay awake. 

“Do you want me to go get Keith?” asked Hunk. “That’s probably why you've been so tired. You know, since you’re supposed to be holding hands or something.”

Lance shook his head. “I don't care. I'm not going to…” He yawned so deeply his jaw cracked. “…make him spend time with me.” He leaned into Hunk, closing his eyes. Just for a minute. 

He teetered on the edge of sleep, but something kept him awake, like an itch he couldn't scratch. He wanted to sleep, the energy drained from his very bones like a dull ache. 

Lance forced his eyes open at the sound of the door. Shiro carried Keith in the room over his shoulder, eliciting a sound of distress from Lance. 

“He's fine,” said Shiro as Hunk jumped up so Shiro could lay Keith on the bed. A dark bruise blossomed across Keith's cheek. Lance touched it with a tired, shaking hand. Keith hissed in pain, hitting Lance’s hand so hard that it stung. 

“What happened?” asked Hunk. 

“I think he overexerted himself,” said Shiro. “Dropped mid-swing and took a hit from the training bot.”

“I did not,” grumbled Keith, his eyes half open. “You broke my concentration.”

Shiro rolled his eyes. “You two need to get some rest. Don’t think that just because you’re getting out of training tonight means that you won’t have to make it up.”

Lance groaned. Why did Shiro have to suck all the fun out of being space heroes? Besides, they just went through an emotional ordeal! They deserve a break. And—

Lance lifted up his head to repeat himself out loud, but Shiro and Hunk were gone. Keith was sitting on the edge of the bed, having changed out of his sweaty training clothes. How long had it been? Did Lance fall asleep? He still felt like death, so probably not. 

Keith crossed and uncrossed his arms before sighing. “If we’re…going to do this…Just don’t cuddle me, okay?”

Lance sputtered out something in between “of course not” and “why would I?” 

“Whatever. Just stay on your side.” Keith punched his pillow into place—because apparently, that was a real thing that people did—and turned on his side to face away from Lance.

“Dude, exactly what kind of contact were you planning on?”

Keith slid one foot back until his toes were pressed against Lance’s shin. Um…what the quiznak?

“Are you—” Lance moved his legs away. “I’m not letting you put your foot on me!”

Keith rolled onto his back to glare up at Lance. “What do you suggest?”

Lance laid down and thrust his hand out, dropping it down on Keith’s chest. “Can’t we just hold hands?”

Keith’s emotions went haywire—tight and hot, like that awful ringing sound in movies after a bomb explodes. Lance gritted his teeth trying to ignore the urge to push Keith off the bed just to get any other emotion out of him. 

“Fine, whatever,” said Keith sliding his fingers between Lance’s. They both let out a sigh as everything went still and calm, like things were finally in place. Lance closed his eyes and was asleep almost instantly. 

 

Lance woke up feeling better rested than he had in days—maybe even weeks. Keith’s hands were twisted in Lance’s shirt, and their legs tangled together. Keith’s mood was soft and cool, like a gentle breeze—definitely the best one so far. Unless of course, the fainting had knocked something loose and now Lance was having some kind of psychotic break where he thought he could feel Keith’s emotions. Or empaths were real and Lance was now officially a superhero. That would be sweet. 

Keith sighed in his sleep, his hands twitching slightly. He was way easier to handle like this. Like a kitten, Lance thought as he ran his fingers through Keith’s illegally soft hair. Lance had always considered himself to be a dog person, but maybe having a bond with a giant mechanical lion made him a cat person. Maybe there were space dogs. That'd be fun. He'd have to ask Coran later. They had mice, so it wouldn't be weird to have dogs too, right?

“Stop it,” grumbled Keith with a flash of anger, and Lance moved his hand as if Keith had burned him. But Keith only tightened his grip on Lance’s shirt. He breathed slow and steady, as his mood leveled back out. 

No alarms and no training until after lunch meant that Lance curled right back up and fell asleep with his forehead touching Keith’s. He was not going to waste this.

 

“Were you two planning on leaving that bed at all today?” 

Lance threw a pillow blindly in the direction of Pidge’s voice, smiling when he heard her squawk as it hit. Keith wrapped his arms around Lance and buried his face into Lance’s chest in an apparent effort to occupy the entirety of Lance’s space. 

“Really Lance?”

“Shut up,” mumbled Keith. Or at least that's what it sounded like he had said. With his entire face squashed against Lance, it was hard to tell. There was a flicker of anger, like ripples in a pond. 

“Well, Shiro said that if you want to eat before training, you're going to need to actually get up.”  
Keith groaned and mumbled something into Lance’s shirt. 

“Thanks Pidgeon, message received.”

Lance winced as his pillow came flying back at full force, hitting him so hard that he knocked his forehead on the wall. That brat. Lance could feel Keith falling back asleep, so despite his actual desire to stay wrapped up in bed with Keith all day, he shook Keith awake.

Keith groaned and batted at Lance, his eyes tightly closed. “No.”

“I didn't even think you even liked sleeping, why is this so difficult?” Lance pried Keith’s hands off his shirt, holding him by the wrists. Keith blinked blearily at him for a moment before glancing around the room. 

“Why are you in my bed?”

“Our bed, dude,” said Lance. “Bond. Shared room. Remember?”

“Right.” His emotions flickered into something warm. “Can you let go?”

“Are you going to fall asleep again?”

“No.” After Lance let go, Keith felt his cheek and hissed in pain. The dark bruise painting his cheekbone in dark purple. “What the…”

“You got hit by the training bot,” said Lance.

Keith blinked a few times and his emotions went more neutral. “Shut up. I know what happened.”

Lance sat up drumming his fingers on his knees. This was weird. Sure, he’d shared a room with other people before, but not exactly with an unrequited crush that looked too unbelievably adorable this early. Oh, quiznak, this was not going to turn out well. Why did his drunken-self have to be so stupidly impulsive? How could he do this to himself?

Keith rubbed his eyes and yawned, making Lance’s heart spasm with suppressed affection.

“Uh, I’m…going to…ah, yeah.” Lance sprinted off the bed and into the safety of the bathroom before he did anything else stupid. Well, besides the jumble of words he’d tried to turn into a sentence. 

Lance moved mechanically through his morning routine. What was he thinking? This was never going to work. How was he supposed to spend every night curled up with Keith without his heart exploding? There was no way this was going to work. Besides, Keith obviously doesn’t share his feelings, so what? Even if they become some kind of legendary fighting team, does that mean he’ll have to watch when Keith fall in love with someone else? Someone he loved for real? 

“Lance?” said Keith, knocking on the bathroom door. “You've been in there forever.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “You could have just gone first.”

“I didn't know you were going to take this long and I have to pee.”

“You should have said something.”

“Can you just hurry up?” 

“No.” Lance checked the timer. “Unless you can bend time and space you're just going to have to wait.”

The door slid open and Lance couldn't stop the yelp of surprise that escaped. 

“Can't wait,” said Keith pushing Lance off the toilet seat. 

Lance took refuge by the sink, closing his eyes after stuffing his fingers in his ears. “This is a clear violation of my privacy.”

“You're slow,” said Keith, over the flushing of the toilet. 

Lance's timer went off and he turned on the sink to start rinsing the mask off his face. 

Keith stood next to him tapping his foot. “Can I wash my hands?”

“Can you just wait? It's not like your hands are going to fall off in the next thirty seconds.” 

“Do you do this every day?” grumbled Keith. 

Lance reached for his towel. “Do you think my skin looks this good on accident?”

Keith moved to the sink, and Lance stepped in closer until their legs were pressed together as he reached for his toothbrush.

“I don't do all this and my skin is fine.”

Lance fought back an eye roll. If dry skin is fine, then sure. 

Keith accidentally elbowed him as he dried his hands and Lance became aware of exactly how close he was to Keith. Which made the fluttering nervous feeling in his stomach even worse. But Keith didn't say anything or even try to step away as they brushed their teeth in silence. 

Lance glared into the closet as he changed out of his pajamas. He was definitely not going to stare at Keith. Not that it mattered really. Because Keith wandered around in all states of undress and apparently didn't care about bathroom etiquette. Lance fought the urge to bang his own head against the wall. He didn't need to make it weird. It's not like his crush just started with the bond. So, if he could handle Keith before the bond, he could do it now. They were just teammates that held hands so they didn't collapse during combat. Just bros doing their bro thing. No big deal. 

“Do you need help?” Lance tripped forward, crashing into the wall as he felt Keith’s hand on his back. 

“No, no I can dress myself. I've been doing it for years now,” huffed Lance. 

“Really? Because you’ve spent the last five minutes trying to fit your jeans over your head.” 

Oh. Lance dropped his jeans on the ground to free his arms. “Are you watching me get dressed?”

If he didn't know better, he'd have thought Keith’s cheeks were a little more pink than usual as he turned away, grumbling too quiet for Lance to catch. At least he waited for Lance to sort himself out so they could walk to lunch together. Not that Lance cared. But…it was nice. Maybe this whole bond thing wouldn't be so bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me on tumblr [HERE](http://flyingworddisasters.tumblr.com/) if you want to cry about Voltron.


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith loses his cool, Lance loses his clothes, and the Castle loses power.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aha! Ask and you shall receive. Update is here.  
> Sorry again, I am easily distracted and may have watched season three like 4 times...today...  
> Again, sorry for any blaring errors, I've been staring at it too long to notice anymore.

 

 

Lance landed hard on the ground at Keith’s feet. He was becoming way too familiar with the floor of the training deck, and not in a good way. The last couple of weeks had been okay, Keith was still Keith—a stubborn, impulsive mullet-head, whose anger flared at any moment. But they did spend way more time together. Mostly because Lance forced his presence on Keith whenever he could. But Keith didn’t try to stop him, and didn’t constantly snap at Lance like he used to.

They'd successfully formed Voltron when they needed to—which was a serious relief. Even though Lance had a hard time catching Keith’s emotions when they weren't close together, when they were in their lions everything was amplified. Even Allura had been impressed with how well they'd been working together. Lance had yet to tell anyone why exactly…he hadn't figured out if Keith could read his emotions yet. And that was a good enough excuse not to bring it up for now. Keith would probably lose his mind when he found out and Lance liked what they had going for them.

“Again.”

“Are you serious? We’ve been doing this for like a hundred vargas!” Lance replied, sitting up and rubbing his sore shoulder.

“Then do it right, and we’ll be done.”

“Do it right,” mocked Lance, getting slowly to his feet, his entire body aching. This was supposed to be fun. He and Hunk were doing just fine practicing with the training bot and then Keith showed up and took over, making everything not fun! Hunk left ages ago, and Lance could have gone with him. But Keith was here and, yeah, maybe he wanted to be in the same place as Keith. Stupid bond. Maybe.

Honestly, the line blurred between Lance needing and wanting to spend time with Keith. It was really starting to freak Lance out—he definitely didn’t want Keith to think he was clingy and pathetic.

“Ready?” asked Keith, his hands in fists.

“Yeah, I’m—ow!”

Keith kicked out, hitting Lance hard in the ribs to send him sprawling back to the ground.

“I thought you were ready,” said Keith crossing his arms as he stood over Lance. “Are you even trying?”

Lance swiped Keith’s ankles out from under him, and Keith yelped as he fell to the ground.

“Now are we done? I’m starving.” Lance stretched out, dropping his hand on Keith’s face just to hear the annoyed huffing sound he made.

“That was a cheap shot,” said Keith, unimpressed.

“Yeah? I’ll show you a cheap shot,” said Lance. He rolled over and dug his fingers into Keith’s sides. Keith let out a surprised shriek, his eyes going wide before he started giggling uncontrollably as he tried to squirm out of Lance’s reach. 

"S-stop, Lance, this isn’t f-funny!”

Lance didn’t relent as Keith giggled, swatting uselessly at Lance’s hands. “I’ll stop when you admit I’m the best.”

“Lance!”

“Say, ‘oh Lance, you’re the most handsome, greatest pilot of all time.’ Then I’ll stop.”

“Fine! You’re the g-greatest pilot of all time!” said Keith his face turning red as he smiled wide and unrestrained.

“And?” Lance grinned as he moved his hands up a little higher to make Keith squirm. And maybe because Keith’s laugh made his heart race and he could really get used to that feeling.

“A-and the most handsome!” spluttered Keith, a grin stretched across his face as he looked up at Lance, bursting with happiness that flooded Lance’s senses.

Lance relented, trying not to think about how he'd ended up straddling Keith again. He should move. “I always knew you thought I was handsome.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but a soft smile spread across his face as he pushed Lance’s hands away. “You cheated.”

“There’s no rules against tickling. You’re just mad that I beat you. Again.”

Keith licked his lips, staring up at Lance with a far too soft expression. It would be so easy to lean down and kiss him. Keith’s lips parted and his eyes were focused as Lance moved forward just slightly.

It was just the bond, Lance reminded himself. Keith didn’t really want this. But, one kiss wouldn’t hurt, would it? Even if it wasn’t real. Lance stopped inches from Keith’s lips, swallowing hard. Keith hadn’t moved, hadn’t tried to push Lance away. He should do it. He should kiss Keith now before he lost his chance. But…

Lance moved fast, ducking to blow a raspberry into Keith’s neck. Keith let out a squawk of irritation and pushed Lance away.

“I hope Hunk found something good to program the goo with. I would kill for a cheeseburger,” said Lance bouncing to his feet. “I mean out of the entire universe only one planet has cheeseburgers? Give me a break.”

“Yeah,” said Keith, rubbing his neck and avoiding eye contact. “I guess.”

Lance ignored the longing feeling sitting heavy his stomach. Keith didn’t like him, not really. It was better to keep some distance.

“Now that I’m the best, can we go eat?”

“I’m not hungry,” said Keith, his voice sharp.

“Do you want to keep sparring?” asked Lance, reaching down to help him up. “I won’t cheat this time.”

Keith stood up, ignoring Lance’s hand with a flash of anger. “Fine, let’s just go get dinner.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Lance. He could practically taste Keith’s irritation filling the air around him. Not that Keith was ever very subtle, but Keith’s anger felt different—usually settling on frustration or irritation when it came to Lance. But this was different and new. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it almost felt…sad, maybe disappointed?

Keith finally looked him in the eye, crossing his arms tight in front of him. “I’m…just tired. It’s nothing.”

“Oh,” said Lance, not sure whether to believe him. “We can go to bed early.”

“Maybe, yeah,” said Keith, following him to the dining hall. Keith let Lance hold his hand, so maybe he really was just tired.

 

 

Keith disappeared after dinner, so Lance went down to the lab with Hunk, watching him tinker with some weird bots Coran had dug out from the castle storage.

“Can you hand me that,” said Hunk, gesturing vaguely at the tools on Lance’s left. He picked one at random and held it out to Hunk.

“I found out Keith is ticklish today.”

“Mmm,” said Hunk, taking the proffered tool. He started at it a moment before handing it back to Lance. “The other one.”

“Be more specific, there’s like twenty different things here.”

“The one that looks like a screwdriver.”

“That narrows it down to fifteen.” Lance sighed and pointed to each one in turn. Until Hunk made grabbing hands at one. “Is that weird thing that kind of looks like a demented clown head really more interesting than Keith?”

Hunk shrugged. “Kind of. I pretty much know how Keith works. Not that I’m an expert in biology, but basic human functions are pretty easy to understand. He is part Galra though, so that might change things. Pidge already has a bunch of theories…it would be cool to find out—”

“Yeah,” said Lance cutting him off. He picked up a sharp tool that looked like miniature spiral staircase and twirled it in his fingers. “I just don’t get him—Ow!”

Hunk pulled the spirally tool out of Lance’s hand and set it out of Lance’s reach. Lance rubbed at the cut on his finger while Hunk pulled a bandage out of his pocket.

“You’re fighting a lot less, and Keith has been, like, more mellow, you know?” Hunk pried the bot open and pulled out a handful of wires that looked like curly orange clown hair.

Lance swallowed hard. Okay, maybe they did fight less, but that’s mostly because Keith just ignored Lance most of the time. Just because Keith might not totally hate him, didn’t mean that he actually liked Lance. And honestly, Lance didn't really want to think about it anymore than he already did. Even if they had that weird moment today…

Lance shook his head like it would help clear up all these confusing thoughts. “Seriously though, what is that?”

“Coran said it was some kind of toy. But knowing Alteans, that doesn’t mean it’s something fun.” Hunk passed the weird clown head to Lance, who dropped it and backed away.

“Uh, no thanks. Not after that time we thought we found ping pong balls, but then they started chasing us and shooting lasers.”

“Yeah, those really hurt.” Hunk set the clown head down on the table. “Are you doing okay? With all this bond stuff? Shiro thinks you’ve been doing better now, but, you know, I worry about you.”

“You worry about everything. But no, I’m okay—Wait, what did Shiro say about me? Do you guys have secret meetings without me?”

Hunk rubbed the back of his neck looking sheepish. “I mean…Keith isn’t there either.”

“I knew it!” Lance banged his fist on the table and the clown head thing emitted a loud croak like a toad. “I knew you were plotting against me!”

“We’re not plotting anything,” said Hunk, backing away from the table and pulling Lance with him. “I mean, you and Keith are, like, always together now, so it’s not like we’re trying to have secret meetings without you. You’re just not there to begin with. And we’re…worried about you two getting along and everything.”

“Uh huh,” said Lance. “Well, then you’re not invited to my secret meetings with Keith. We talk about all of you behind your backs too.” Lance stuck out his tongue for added emphasis.

He jumped up to sit on the edge of the table and the clown head croaked again. Hunk seemed torn between moving further away and grabbing Lance off the table, but he was probably just being paranoid. Lance kicked the table leg on accident as he swung his legs.

“Besides, Keith doesn't even really like me,” said Lance. The head croaked again and with a loud burp, sprayed Lance with sticky pink goop. Because why not.

“What do you mean by that?” said Hunk looking stunned. “Of course he likes you? That's like the whole point of the bond…right?”

“No! I like Keith, but he…” Lance shrieked as the goop on his clothes started to burn. He scrambled out of his jeans and shirt while Hunk stayed back against the wall being completely unhelpful.

“Why are all of their toys dangerous?” said Hunk, carefully kicking Lance’s clothes away. “I mean none of these have been fun.”

“I'm going to go find some clothes,” grumbled Lance, shivering. “See you later.”

He took about three steps out the door before someone tackled him from behind. He recognized Keith’s flashing anger just before he fell directly on his knees.

“What happened? Where are your clothes?” Keith wrapped his arms around Lance, which only slightly made up for his sore knees.

“Was it necessary to throw me on the ground?” yelled Lance. Keith’s anger fueled on his own and he shoved Keith away. “What do you care anyways?”

“Well, I'm sorry for being worried about you, it's not like I have a choice with this stupid bond!”

“Sorry to be such an inconvenience! I'll try to remember that the next time you make out with me under a magic alien tree!”

Keith fumed, his face turning red. “Yeah, like it even matters to you at all, wandering the castle practically naked!”

“I'll wear whatever I want! You don't get to tell me what to do!”

“Put some clothes on!”

“Make me!”

Keith opened his mouth to yell some more, but was cut off as the castle jolted to the side, the lights flickering. Lance fell sideways into the wall, scrabbling for purchase as the floor shifted under his feet. Keith’s hands grabbed for him as the castle alarms started blaring.

“Coran?” yelled Keith. “What’s going on?”

“ _It’s the…power…land…before we can_ …” Coran’s voice crackled through the speakers before turning into static. The lights went out and everything went strangely quiet.

Keith swore under his breath, clutching Lance to his chest. “We need to get to the lions.”

“If we don’t have power, we won’t be able to open the hangars,” said Lance. He swallowed hard to keep his voice from cracking. “Are we going to run out of air?”

“No,” said Keith firmly. “It’s a separate system. Pidge has already looked into it in case something like this happened.”

Lance wished he was actually wearing clothes so he didn’t feel so vulnerable. He didn’t even have his bayard…or, like, pants.

“It’s going to be fine,” said Keith softly. “Coran and Pidge will get it figured out.”

“I’m not scared,” he lied.

The gravity went out, lifting them into the air. And okay, Lance might be seriously freaking out now because he was going to die in space while mostly naked and not even for a good reason. Why? How could it end like this?

“Stop,” said Keith through gritted teeth. “Stop freaking out, we’re going to be fine.”

“How is this fine? We’re in zero G with no power and I’m not wearing pants!”

“How would you wearing pants make this any better?”

Lance was struck with a shot of embarrassment that definitely wasn’t his. Um…did Keith really just…

“Uh…what?” He couldn’t see Keith’s face, but he could still feel the lingering embarrassment, so he hoped that he was blushing something fierce.

“You know what I meant.”

“Nope, no I don’t.”

Dim lights flickered on, and they crashed back to the floor in a heap of tangled limbs. Hunk burst out of his lab a moment later and yanked both of them into a hug.

“We’re alive!”

“Hunk, buddy, please,” said Lance, trying to shift to get a better look at Keith’s face.

“ _Coran, what’s going on_?” asked Shiro, his voice crackling through the castle speakers. “ _Is everyone… okay_?”

“ _The…generator…went...kaput! I can replace it, but we’ll need to… somewhere to land first. We’ll…power down the castle_.”

“ _Hold on_ ,” said Pidge. A moment later the static noise stopped. “ _Okay, much better. Coran, what are you saying_?”

“ _Are we able to wormhole_?” asked Allura.

" _I don't think so._ _We need to find somewhere close by. Kaldur Arentis is just a few ticks away_ ,” said Coran. “ _It has a stable atmosphere with enough oxygen_.”

“ _Kaldur Arentis it is_ ,” said Allura. “ _Everyone, to the control room_.”

“You’re probably going to want to put on some pants,” said Hunk, clapping Lance on the shoulder. Keith looked away, his cheeks definitely pink.

“Don’t want to overwhelm the aliens on this planet, right?” said Lance with a wink. He pretended not to notice when Keith's spark of irritation disappeared as Lance grabbed his hand. 

 

 

Kaldur Arentis was covered in what looked like brown grass and mud. The castle had landed on a large chunk of bedrock, but Lance took one step off the path and ended up knee-deep in muck. Pidge snickered while Hunk yanked him out like the great friend that he was. Lance grabbed a handful of mud and threw it at Pidge in retaliation. While he laughed, she ran over and kicked him hard, sending him face-first into the mud.

Lance tried to wipe off the front of his helmet, but it was so thick that it just smeared even worse until he couldn’t see at all. Okay, so maybe that hadn’t been the greatest idea. He gagged as he pulled off his helmet. The air was so humid he could taste it—like wet clay and spoiled fruit.

“Knock it off,” said Shiro, pushing Pidge to keep walking. Hunk helped pull Lance back out of the mud again.

Coran stood next to Keith. “When we get to the city, make sure you don’t wink at any of the Arentis people.”

“Why would we do that?” asked Pidge, scanning the mud with her computer.

“Well, they have three eyes, but they can’t make their eyelids move independently. Anyone that can they find…rather interesting,” said Allura leading them down the path.

“Did you hear that, Lance?” said Shiro over his shoulder.

“Why me?” asked Lance. Keith grabbed him by the elbow to keep him moving. He could walk perfectly fine on his own. But…yeah it was Keith.

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Because you’re the only one of us that would wink at strangers.”

“Did you…wink at one?” Hunk asked Coran.

He didn’t answer, but Lance got the distinct impression that it had not gone well. He elbowed Keith, who rolled his eyes.

They trudged on, following Allura down the grassy road toward the pillared city. The buildings about a mile or so ahead of them looked like the Coliseum in Ancient Greece, except before it crumbled into ruin. Huge pillars framed the city, but instead of white marble, they were black like obsidian.

A crowd gathered in between two of the city pillars that looked like they connected to a grassy road. They were still too far away to see clearly, but they were easy to spot dressed all in white.

A loud roaring noise made Allura stop in her tracks. She backed up into Shiro, tense and waiting as she reached for her staff.

“What was that?” asked Shiro adopting a defensive stance. Lance pulled out his bayard and dropped his muddy helmet on the ground. Keith pushed Lance behind him, his mood sharp and focused.

The white-clad figures dispersed, running back into the coliseum-shaped building.

“Oh no.” Coran ducked behind Hunk. “Could it be Kaaza?”

“Kaaza? I thought those were extinct!” said Allura.

“Do you want to tell us something actually useful?” yelled Keith, his sword already in hand.

“Seriously, what are these things?” asked Pidge.

Something emerged from the mud beside Lance and Keith with a squelch. It was hard to see beneath the thick brown mud, but it had at least eight shining black eyes and couldn’t have been much taller than Pidge as it slid toward them.

“What do we do?” asked Lance, taking his blaster out as he moved himself between the creature and Keith with a sharp pang of fear. But he couldn’t worry about that now, his fear matched by fierce protectiveness.

“The Kaaza are ancient predators. But they’re not usually very tactical, but can amass in large numbers if they are not contained. They have long tentacles that can crush bones if they grab ahold of you,” said Allura quickly.

“So, don’t let them grab you unless you are okay with losing a limb,” said Shiro, his arm lighting up.

“I am so not okay with that,” said Hunk backing into Shiro.

“Quiznak,” said Allura. She twirled her staff as the creature approached her. A hairy brown tentacle shot out of the mud. With a flick of her staff, the creature let out a deafening roar and the tentacle flopped onto the grass, severed from its body. Shiro and Allura were both spattered with mud and something black that might have been the creature’s blood.

It sunk back into the mud after another roar.

“Run!” She pushed Shiro forward as Coran streaked back toward the castle, running faster than Lance had thought he could ever move. Impressive, actually.

The ground shook as at least thirty more creatures emerged from the mud around them with a loud squelch. They were so heavily coated with mud it was hard to tell what they actually looked like. Mostly like rounded, hairy hills. Or maybe giant mud octopuses. Octopi? Whatever. They didn’t have a visible mouth, but the growled as they moved smoothly through the mud. The tentacles were completely hidden until they shot out with a loud splash and an odor that made him gag.

Keith sliced a tentacle that had shot out at Hunk, while Hunk was blasting them as he ran, missing more than he hit. Lance tried to shoot down as many as he could while the air filled with their roars. But every time one went down, another one was up. Their tentacles had to be at least four or five times longer than their body, reaching out from their bodies were at least 30 feet away.

Keith stayed in front of Lance, no more than a few feet like they were somehow tethered together.

Lance shot a tentacle reaching for him and was trying to dodge another when he slipped backwards. His leg sunk into the mud up to his knee and a tentacle grabbed ahold of his ankle, pulling him down before he could even manage to scream, frozen in fear. He choked as his head went under—the mud was so thick, he could barely move through it. He clawed helplessly trying to reach air, but his arms were useless in the heavy mud.

A tentacle wrapped around his wrist, and another wrapped across his chest and up around his neck. The tentacle around his leg tightened and he swallowed mud as his bones cracked under the strain. He flailed helplessly, as fear crushed his chest. He couldn’t breathe. He was going to die.

What would happen to Keith when he was gone?

A jolt rocked the creature and the tentacles went slack. Lance’s uninjured leg found solid ground and he pushed himself up, his arms outstretched. The mud was so heavy, he wasn’t even sure if he had reached the surface. His lungs were burning and his mouth was full of mud. Something thin wrapped around his wrist and pulled, dragging him until he felt hard ground beneath him.

“Lance! Lance!” yelled a broken voice.

He choked and gasped as water hit his face, clearing the mud from his mouth and nose. He dropped forward on his hands as he heaved and coughed, trying to get air back into his lungs. A hand was on his chin, lifting up his face.

“You’re okay,” said a calm voice as more water was poured down his face. He tried to push away from them, but stronger hands held him down. His mouth was pushed open and filled with water, and he coughed and spit to clear the mud out of his throat.

“Are there more?” asked someone. Hunk. He was holding onto Lance. “Can we move him?”

“What about his leg?”

“Is he going to be okay?”

“Lance, can you walk?” said the voice in front of him. Shiro. His voice was soft—almost unrecognizable.

He screamed as a red-hot pain shot up his spine from his left leg when he tried to move. He clawed at Hunk’s arm wrapped around him. Keith? Where was Keith? He was there, Lance could feel him—he was scared. Why was he scared?

“We can use his armor as a splint. Pidge, do you see anything we can use as rope? Hunk, hold him still, we have to set his leg first.”

Lance screamed again as Shiro pushed on his leg, and he kicked out with his other leg. No, no, it hurt too much. He had to find Keith. He needed Keith to be okay.

“Keith, can you—never mind. Allura, can you hold his leg down?”

Hands were on his other leg, holding it down. Keith? Why wasn’t he here with Lance?

“Lance, you need to breathe,” said Shiro. “Pidge, can you help me tie the splint?”

“Did you hear that?” said Hunk, his voice shaking. “I think they’re coming back.”

“We’re moving on three. Ready?”

In a blur of agony, Lance was lifted into the air. He could hear screaming and Shiro’s voice, but he could barely breathe through the searing pain that whited out his vision. He caught a glimpse of red from Keith’s armor, felt Keith’s hand clutching his. Finally, everything faded into black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is Lance always unconscious? My poor space son.


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has no idea what’s going on anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry, this took a million years. Real life has been a disaster, and I rewrote this chapter like seven times before I was decently happy with it. But (hopefully) it's nice and long for you!

Lance fell out of the cryopod, the cold still lingering all the way to his bones making him shiver. Arms steadied him before he hit the ground. He tried to feel the familiarity of Keith’s emotions in the room, but got nothing. 

"Where's..." he slurred, his tongue heavy. His eyelids refused to budge. 

"He's in your room." Oh, Allura. She sat him down on the steps. "I just want to run your vitals and I'll take you there."

Why wasn't Keith there waiting for him? He blinked slowly as the med bay swam into view. The lights were dimmer than usual, but his eyes still took a few minutes to adjust. Allura held a device like a tv remote against his forehead for a few seconds and stared at it while he looked around. No one else was here, not even Hunk or Coran. He figured that at least one of them would have been waiting for him.

"Your vitals are holding steady. How are you feeling?"

"Tired," he muttered, his head drooping forward. His brain felt fuzzy and disconnected and his body was heavy and sluggish. He wanted Keith—needed him like he needed air to breathe. He couldn’t focus with his whole body shaking, desperate for Keith’s touch.

"We expected you to come out of there a few days ago. Keith is the only one here in the castle. The others went out on a mission, but they should be back tomorrow.” 

Lance dropped his forehead onto Allura’s shoulder. "Keith, please?" He fought to stay awake, a small part of him wanted to find out what happened, why it took him so long to heal. The rest of him wanted to force his shaking, tired limbs into action to get to Keith. Run, walk, crawl even—anything. But his vision blurred and faded without his consent. 

 

He woke breathing in Keith. They were sitting on the floor, and Lance found himself curled up in Keith’s lap, his face buried in the hair at Keith’s neck. His shirt clung to him, sticky with sweat. Ugh, he must be totally disgusting—the cryopods weren’t exactly a substitute for a shower. Keith rocked him gently, his mood flickering between worry and something warm Lance couldn’t identify. 

“Lance?” Keith’s voice was low and gravelly like he’d just woken up. What time was it?

Lance swallowed hard, his throat so dry that it hurt. He grabbed for the water pouch on the floor next to him, but his arms shook as his muscles protested the movement. Keith brought the straw to his lips and he drank greedily. 

“Wha’ happened?” he asked after he had drained the pouch. 

Keith tightened his hold on Lance as a flash of anger burst to the surface. “What do you remember?”

Lance frowned. What did he remember? The power went out in the castle…and he wasn’t wearing pants. But then…there was mud? Or was that a dream? He still hadn’t seen rain since he left Earth. There can’t be mud without rain, right? No, there was something else. Tentacles?

“Mud?”

Keith huffed. “Just mud?”

“I don’t know,” said Lance, pressing shaking hands to his temples like that would help. His entire body felt boneless and weak. “I don’t remember.”

“You don’t…remember anything?” Something almost like fear passed through Keith, making Lance feel even more on edge.

Lance blinked heavily until the blurriness left his vision, and he could see the worry in Keith’s eyes. “There were those octopus things that dragged me into the mud. I think I broke my leg or something. Don’t worry mullet, I still remember you.”

“It’s almost breakfast…maybe you should shower.” Keith lifted Lance easily to his feet and, whoa, how long had he been able to do that? 

“But… what happened? How long have I been out? Allura said I took a long time to heal, but from what?”

Keith guided Lance into the bathroom—which was easier said than done because apparently, Lance’s legs had morphed into wobbly piles of jello. He tried grasping onto the wall to hold steady, but his arms were equally as useless. 

“Coran said there was supposed to be some kind of button for a bench,” said Keith, setting Lance down on the toilet. “The muscle weakness is temporary, it should be wearing off soon.”

“How many days?” Lance did not like how calm Keith was about the fact that Lance was essentially a baby right now. He slid a few inches down the toilet seat because he couldn’t even manage to sit up properly. 

“Since what?” asked Keith absently, running his hands along the edges of the shower. 

“Since I’ve been conscious!” Lance sliding down further until his chin hit his chest. 

Keith sighed before walking over to put Lance back into an upright position. Since when was Keith such a worrier? Lance almost preferred the angry, hot outburst to this horrible prickling feeling ratcheting up his anxiety. 

“Keith, just tell me what’s going on. You’re freaking me out.”

Keith ran a hand over the back of his neck anxiously and the mark on Lance’s hip flared with a gentle heat. “It’s been nine days since we landed on Kaldur Arentis. Two since you’ve gotten out of the cryopod.”

Lance blinked at him. Nine days? And he got out of the cryopod two days ago? Why didn’t he remember anything?

“Then…what was I doing for the last two days?” asked Lance. 

Keith shrugged and picked up Lance by his armpits and dragged him over to the tub. “Just sleeping. Can’t we just talk about this later?”

Lance wrestled himself out of Keith’s grip, his arms already starting to feel less like spaghetti noodles. “Why can’t you just tell me now?”

“The Arentians were allied with the Galra. So, when we thought that they were helping to heal you, they were actually poisoning you.” Keith’s voice was oddly detached, but Lance could feel the boiling rage building under his calm pretense.

“They…I was poisoned?” Who the quiznak poisoned an already injured person? Zarkon, probably. Sendak had already tried to kill Lance with that bomb. Why was everyone trying to kill him? Well, it was a war, so yeah, okay, that made sense. 

Keith clenched his hands together and Lance awkward pushed himself forward to inspect Keith’s scraped and bruised fingers. His fingernails were ragged and broken so far that one of them started bleeding as Lance prodded it. What in the quiznak had Keith been doing? Clawing through sandpaper? Punching brick walls? Did they get a particularly mean cat?

“Didn’t you get something for this from Coran?” 

Keith pulled away with a flash of guilt. “No. It’s fine. I’ll be in the room if you need me.” Keith ran out of the bathroom, leaving the door open a crack.

Okay, weird. Lance pulled himself up far enough to start the water. A bath was better than nothing, and sitting on the shower floor didn’t sound very fun.

By the time he’d finished, his legs were working enough to get him into a standing position and out of the tub without crawling. Keith sat stoically on the bed, facing the door with his arms crossed the entire time Lance got dressed, his mood unreadable. They walked to the dining hall in silence. Lance held Keith’s wrist, to avoid hurting Keith’s already battered hands. 

Since he’d been totally out of commission for over a week, he expected the rest of the team to be glad to see that he was okay. Nothing crazy, just like a hug, maybe, and a “we’re glad you aren’t dead.” 

He did not expect Pidge actually tackling him to the ground, or Hunk and Coran both bursting into tears and running to hug him half a second after he walked through the door. Allura was not far behind them, and even Shiro joined, ruffling Lance’s hair. All of them were talking at once, even though Hunk was mostly just blubbering. Lance loved his space family.

Keith yanked himself out of Lance’s grip as soon as Shiro had walked up, sitting down at the furthest chair from the one Shiro had just left. What was up with that? Keith got mad at all of them, but never Shiro. Weird. But that would have to wait until after the hugging. 

 

“Guess what,” said Pidge, her legs in Lance’s lap as he shoveled food goo into his mouth. “We saw space puppies.”

“Aw, man, they were so cute. Pidge tried to keep one, but Allura said no,” said Hunk, sitting on Lance’s other side. 

“I want to see space puppies,” said Lance. Wasn’t he just talking about that? He knew they had to have dogs in space. They have giant cat robots, so why wouldn’t there be space dogs? 

“Keith didn’t see them either, so we’ll have to go back,” said Pidge bouncing a little in her chair as she drummed her fingers on the lid of her laptop. 

Keith sat across the table from Lance, tapping his fingers absently. He and Shiro had kept a wide berth between each other until Allura, Shiro, and Coran all left to do something important in the control room. Shiro sported an impressive black eye and Lance was dying to find out how that had happened. Shiro brushed him off when he asked, and based on the intensity of guilt and anger from Keith, Lance was going to have to wait to find out until Keith wasn’t in the room. 

Lance stretched out his leg to hook his ankle with Keith’s. “Don’t you want to see space puppies?”

Keith pulled his leg out of Lance’s reach. “I’m going to the training deck,” he said, refusing to look at Lance as he stood up.

As soon as the door shut behind Keith, Lance dropped his spoon and pushed the food goo away. Finally! “Okay, what happened while I was out? Keith is being super weird.”

“Keith lost his mind, that’s what,” said Pidge. Hunk nodded in agreement.

So, long story short: While Lance was unconscious on Kaldur Arentis, the aliens there were injecting him with poison. Not cool. And the poison was super intense stuff that brought Lance to the brink of death without actually making him look like he was dying—some real Snow White kind of stuff, just without the apple. Luckily, Keith kept insisting that something was wrong with Lance and the rest of the team caught on before Lance actually died. Coran got the castle back up and running right as a Galra fleet showed up to grab them. So, Coran flew in, picked them up, and they shut Lance in the cryopod to heal. Pretty epic. Lance was kind of sad that he missed it.

“It was weird, man,” said Hunk. “I mean Keith is always paranoid—like with the Arusians, remember he was going to fight that little warrior guy? But this time he really freaked out. Not gonna lie, I was a little scared he was going to, like, murder everyone on the planet like Anakin with the sand people.”

“Exactly. You should see Red’s hangar,” said Pidge lowering her voice. “She tried to claw through the castle walls.”

“She’s in with Blue until we have time to do the repairs,” said Hunk. “In case you were wondering.”

Lance still couldn’t believe that Keith had been freaking out that much. Like, yeah, Keith was a hot head and overreacted all the time. But the last time Red had done something like that was while Keith was going through the Trials of Marmora. He still got mad if anyone brought it up. But, like, finding out that you’re part-alien would take some time to get used to, so Lance couldn’t blame him for that. 

But, why would Keith have been so upset about Lance that his lion tried to break the castle? Like, that was insane. There had to be something else—no way Keith would be that worried over Lance. If Shiro had been poisoned and dying, Lance could see Keith reacting that strongly. Shiro was like Keith’s older brother. But Lance was just another part of the team.

“Okay, but what’s going on with Keith and Shiro? They’re like best bros.”

Hunk glanced at Pidge. “Well, Keith was like…really…worried about you.”

“Did we mention that he went batshit crazy?” said Pidge, pointedly ignoring Lance’s gasp at her use of language. 

“What do you mean? Did he punch Shiro? Is that why he’s got a black eye and Keith’s hands look like he fought a blender?” 

“Bad mental image, dude,” said Hunk cringing. “Allura thinks it was because of your bond thing since you were in the cryopod for so long.”

Pidge crossed her arms. “That’s part of it. It’s mostly because we caught him trying to claw you out of the cryopod,” said Pidge. 

Lance’s jaw dropped to the floor. “He was what? Why?”

Pidge nodded. “Shiro got to him first and got a black eye for his troubles. We had to put him in the training cuffs and lock him in your guys’ room.”

“But I got out of the pod like days ago, right? Why is today the first day I remember?”

“Keith locked the door as soon as Allura handed you off and wouldn’t let anyone in. We monitored the room, but based on your biorhythms it looks like you both just slept for two straight days.” Pidge leaned forward, a smirk spreading across her face. “Still think he’s not in love with you?”

Lance scoffed. Yeah, right. Keith was just acting like that because of the bond. “Oh shut up. I’m going to go find him.” He pushed Pidge’s leg out of his lap and stood up.

“Wait, Lance, do you really think Keith doesn’t—”

Lance rushed out the door before Hunk finished, heading toward the training deck. Nope. He was not prepared for the conversation yet. Keith wasn’t in love with him and he wasn’t going to fool himself into hoping that Keith was.

 

 

Lance sometimes hated to admit it, but watching Keith fight was breathtaking. Keith’s sword flashed as he dueled the training bot, moving quickly around the training deck. Every move sharp, fierce, strong. Not to mention he was shirtless and shining with sweat, which was never an unwelcome sight. Lance needed to drop in on Keith’s training more often.

Keith spared a glance back at Lance. “End training sequence.”

The bot went still before dropping through the floor. Keith brushed his sweating hair back and grabbed a water pouch he had sitting off by the wall. 

“You should probably be resting,” Keith panted as Lance came closer. He sat down and pulled his shirt over his head. Unfortunate, really. But it was probably better that Keith was fully clothed in order to keep Lance’s sanity in check.

Lance shrugged and laid his hand on Keith’s shoulder. Here goes nothing. “I’m good, but, are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Keith set the water pouch back down on the floor. Was Lance imagining it or did Keith lean closer to him?

“That’s not what I heard.”

Keith shook his head and stood up, his posture turning tense and stiff. He crossed his arms tightly before turning to the door. Oh, no he didn’t! 

“Hey!” said Lance, grabbing a handful of Keith’s shirt. “I asked you a question. Pidge and Hunk said you went crazy and you’re fighting with Shiro? What’s going on with you”

Keith clenched his hands into fists at his side, refusing to turn around. Lance caught one of his hands and stepped in front of Keith to inspect the bruises on his knuckles again. He could feel Keith’s guilt flooding at full force.

“Did you really punch Shiro?” asked Lance. 

“Not as hard as I punched the wall.” Keith wouldn’t meet his eyes, running his fingers across Lance’s arm. 

“Dude, why?” 

Keith’s frown softened slightly. “You just…scared me, okay?” His emotions shifted so rapidly that it gave Lance a headache trying to sort through them. 

“No way, you’re not scared of anything,” said Lance, bumping their shoulders together. 

“I thought you died. I couldn’t feel…” Keith turned his face away with a flash of panic. “Yes, I was worried. We’re a team…we couldn’t form Voltron without you.”

Right, Voltron. Lance would have been stupid to think that Keith cared about him more than their mission. That’s why they were out here—to defeat Zarkon, save the Universe. Not to fall in love with impulsive, idiotic—

Keith let out a long-suffering sigh. “What does that mean?”

“What?” asked Lance panicked. Had he said that out loud? He was pretty sure he hadn’t. 

“That…never mind.” said Keith, frowning. Lance felt a sudden urge to drag Keith down and kiss him until he would stop looking so stressed. 

Wait, where did that come from? 

Keith gave him a strange look, and stepped into Lance’s space. Lance’s heartrate skyrocketed as Keith’s hands hovered at Lance’s hips. Almost like he was waiting for permission, but for what? Lance wanted to close the space between them, ached for it in a way he’d never wanted anything else, his emotions going wild with hot and cold and _please, let this be real_. 

“Lance—”

The castle alarms blared and they both jumped apart, the room suddenly too bright, too big.

“ _Paladins, to your lions, now!_ ” yelled Allura. 

They sprang into action—pulling on their armor and racing down the long hallways to Blue’s hangar. Before they separated, Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and squeezed it. 

“Stay safe,” he said, pressing his lips to Keith’s cheek before he lost the courage. He ran to Blue without looking back, hoping the happy swooping feeling in his stomach wasn’t just his own. 

 

 

Lance spun in a slow circle while Hunk clapped like a true bro. The Paladin armor was totally cool and made his shoulders look awesome, but there was no way they were wearing all that clunky gear to a ball. Because once again, Voltron saved the day and now the Talke people from a planet called Pisica were holding a ball in their honor. Actually, a ball was even better than a parade because there was dancing, and what kind of victory doesn’t include dancing? The boring kind, that’s what. 

Lance was still a little shaky from his extended stay in the cryopod, but he and Keith had flown better than ever. Like they could read each other’s minds while they took on the Galra fleet attacking Pisica. Lance’s lips were probably magic. Obviously, he wasn’t going to say that out loud, because a kiss on the cheek wasn’t exactly a magical catalyst. But it was probably true. Keith went back to being all aloof and whatever like he had better things to think about than Lance kissing him on the cheek. 

Allura had amassed formal clothes for them when they weren’t in uniform. They were made out of the Altean version of silk and Keith had refused to wear them until they found out that they could still conceal their bayards with a thin belt. Of course, Lance looked totally awesome in blue. And Keith looked… good, too. Really good. Lance had been trying very hard not to think about how the last time they wore these outfits was on Heiloth, and we all know what happened there. Except, if Lance was going to get kissed again, he’d take it. Keith hadn’t said anything about what had happened in the hangar. It was just a kiss on the cheek, like friends do. That was a totally real thing… right?

Of course, Keith refused to change until the last possible moment, so he was sprawled on his stomach across the bed in his stupidly tight black pants and no shirt. Just tapping away on his tablet and completely ignoring how good Lance looked right now. That wouldn’t do.

“Keith, tell me I look good.”

“Mmhmm,” said Keith, not looking up. That brat.

“Hunk, tell Keith to appreciate me,” pouted Lance, draping himself across Keith’s back as elegantly as he could. 

“I’m not getting in the middle of this,” said Hunk, retying his headband in the mirror. 

“You look fine,” grumbled Keith as Lance poked at the whatever Keith had pulled up on his screen.

“Thanks,” said Lance in a flat tone. “Are you going to get dressed now? I can’t be late for my grand entrance.”

“What does that have to do with me?” muttered Keith, knocking Lance’s hands away.

“Uh, duh, you’re my hot arm candy.” He probably shouldn’t have said that out loud based on the way that Keith went all tense and embarrassed. But it was technically true. Hunk acted like he hadn’t heard Lance at all, which was very cool of him. 

“Well, I’m going to make sure Pidge is actually getting ready and not hiding in the lab again,” said Hunk, scooting out after rolling his eyes at Lance. Rude.

“Keith, are you going to get dressed?” whined Lance, poking him in the side. “I know your weaknesses now.”

“Are you going to get off me?”

“So grumpy.” Lance rolled off him and checked his reflection in the mirror. “You better not be this grumpy while we’re dancing.”

“I don’t dance,” Keith grumbled while he pulled on his shirt. Not that Lance was totally watching him…but of course he was. And hold on a second, did he just say he didn’t dance? Unacceptable.

“It’s a ball? What were you expecting to do all night? Be a boring wallflower?”

Keith combed his fingers through his hair like that would help. It did not. Not that it didn’t still look all “I just got off my motorcycle” good, because it definitely did and—okay, Lance needed to think about something else before he got too carried away.

“Ready?” asked Keith, holding out his hand to Lance, almost hesitantly. Nervous energy practically jolting out of his fingertips. 

“Born ready,” said Lance, slapping Keith’s hand like it was a high five and grinning at Keith’s exasperated look. 

He was going to drag Keith out onto the dance floor if it was the last thing he ever did.

 

“What are you doing?” hissed Keith, dragging Lance backward from the Talke girl he was leading to the dance floor.

He gave her what he hoped she would interpret as an apologetic look before rounding on Keith. “Dancing! This is a ball, what else would I be doing?” He threw his arms into the air because he was ready to cause a scene. If Keith was going to be absolutely ridiculous, than so was he!

“We are trying to win a war. You should be creating alliances.”

“Hello, that’s what I was doing. You know, it is possible to talk and move at the same time.” What the quiznak was Keith’s problem? She was the one that asked to dance with him, not the other way around. And he wasn’t just going to say no. That would be rude. It was one dance. Lance already asked him to dance and he said absolutely not—which stung a lot more than he’d expected. That was fine, whatever. But now Lance should be free to dance with whoever he wanted if Keith refused. And Lance liked dancing! 

So, what was that weird feeling in the pit of his stomach? It definitely wasn’t his own, because mostly he was just annoyed—and yeah, he was pretty familiar with how that felt.

“Well, I don’t like it,” said Keith, his voice a low growl. And yeah, if Lance wasn’t so ticked off, he might have found that tone more distracting than he’d care to admit.

“Luckily, I didn’t ask your opinion.”

Lance took two steps toward the dance floor before Keith grabbed his arm and dragged him back. 

“Stop doing that,” said Lance, trying to take back his arm from Keith’s grip. 

“No, you’re not dancing with her.” Keith’s eyes were darker than usual, almost a stormy gray now. 

“You don’t tell me what I can do. This isn’t some kind of dictatorship bond, okay? There are no rules against dancing and you’re the one that won’t even…” Lance trailed off, finally realizing exactly what Keith was feeling. But…that couldn’t be right. No way was Keith actually jealous.

“What?” snapped Keith. 

“Are you jealous?” asked Lance. 

Keith gaped at him his face flushing pink, and Lance couldn’t stop the smirk pulling at his lips. Keith was jealous! Like totally jealous that Lance was going to dance with a hot alien. 

“You’re jealous that she wants to dance with me.” Lance shook his hips a little for emphasis. “Because I’m clearly the prettiest.”

“Pretty annoying,” said Keith, the anger in his voice not nearly as effective while he blushed.

“I bet she’ll dance with you after. I’ll put in a good word for you.” 

“I’m not jealous.” Keith let go of Lance. His anger turned into something darker, wiping the smirk from Lance’s face. “Do whatever you want, I don’t care.” 

“Lance, would you do me a favor and dance with the ambassador’s son?” asked Allura, gliding up. She glanced around and lowered her voice. “He keeps interrupting me and I’m five ticks away from pushing him out a window.” 

“Sure,” he said, with a shrug. Keith stomped away, but Lance wasn’t going to be concerned about that now. See, he was making alliances just like Allura said. 

“Thank you,” she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him across the floor. 

The Talke Ambassador was tall and willowy like the rest of their people, with spiky black fur across her neck and shoulders—almost like they were all wearing fur scarves. They also had hair on the top of their heads arranged in thick twists and braids. The Talke were also totally attractive people even with the weird fur and rough, seven fingered hands. There were a lot of good looking aliens in the universe. 

“Have you met the Blue Paladin?” asked Allura, sweeping Lance forward to stand in front of her.

The Ambassador blinked at him appraisingly. Lance bowed low, following Allura’s example. A younger, taller male by her side leaned forward, putting a calloused hand on Lance’s cheek and grinned.

“I have not had the pleasure,” he purred. Normally, Lance would have found his tone of voice creepy, but that was just how the Talke’s voices sounded—he wasn’t going to hold that against them. Even though he had to fight back a cringe. 

“My son, Yata,” said the Ambassador proudly. Allura was struggling to keep a neutral face to hide her annoyance. It was nice to see it directed to other people instead of him. Even if Lance generally deserved it. 

Yata removed his hand from Lance’s face and smiled. He looked similar to his mother in coloring, but had blond hair in a twist that wrapped around his head like a crown. 

“The name’s Lance,” said Lance, cautiously reaching out his own hand to place on Yata’s cheek—the Talke way of shaking hands. Allura gave him an encouraging smile.

“Perhaps you and Yata would like to dance?” suggested Allura, as she pushed Lance forward.

“I would be most honored,” said Yata, leading Lance out onto the floor with a smile.

Yeah, Yata talked a lot, and Lance could see how it would annoy Allura. But he was a really good dancer—leading Lance around the dance floor and helping Lance work through some of the more complicated moves. Lance twirled around to the quick beat of the music, laughing as Yata caught him before he fell into other dancers. 

Every time Yata pulled him back, or grabbed his hand while he spun, Lance couldn’t help the small spike of disappointment. Yata wasn’t Keith. Not that he wasn’t enjoying himself, because he was—more than he had in a while. But part of him still wished he was dancing with Keith. 

When a few of the princesses ran up to them, Lance was quick to include them all. The littlest one, Cica, latched onto him immediately, curling her thin arms around his neck when he lifted her onto his hip. Even as the other girls moved onto dance with other guests, Cica stayed attached to him while Yata pulled him back. Lance guessed that she would be like a one-year old on Earth, but weighed nearly nothing so he didn’t mind carting her around the dance floor. She giggled as Yata dipped Lance so low that they fell over.

“My most apologies,” said Yata, helping Lance to his feet. “And my most thanks for dancing.”

“No problem,” said Lance smiling. “Thanks for teaching me some great moves.” He tried to set Cica back on the ground, but the little girl had a serious grip, letting out a sharp cry of irritation.

Yata put a hand on Lance’s cheek briefly before rejoining his mother. Allura danced with Shiro away from the crowd, and Hunk stood at the banquet table gesturing excitedly at Coran. Keith was nowhere to be seen. Probably still sulking.

“Alright, I need a dance break. Down you go,” said Lance, trying to pry Cica’s tiny fingers off his neck. 

She giggled at him, her grip never wavering until Lance gave up and carried her over to the table where Pidge sat with her computer in her lap.

“Why aren’t you dancing?” asked Lance, dropping into the seat beside Pidge. Cica stood herself up on his thighs and patted his nose.

“Not really my style,” replied Pidge, not even looking up. 

“You’re missing out,” said Lance, before blowing a raspberry into Cica’s palm. She shrieked as she laughed, and Pidge flinched so violently, her knees banged the underside of the table. 

“Dude, did you steal another kid?” asked Pidge, eyeing Cica warily. 

“Little kids like me, I can’t help it.” Lance blew a raspberry into Cica’s other hand and she laughed just as loud, smacking at his cheeks. “Also, I’ve never stolen a child, so shut your face.”

“That remains to be seen,” said Pidge. She carefully reached out allowing Cica to wrap her tiny fingers around her thumb. “But I guess she’s kind of cute.”

Cica babbled excitably, pulling Pidge’s hand closer so she could slobber down her palm. Lance held her steady, his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter at the disgusted look on Pidge’s face. 

“And this is where I lose interest.” Pidge extracted her thumb from Cica’s grip and went back to her computer after wiping her hand on the table cloth. 

“I know, she’s no fun,” said Lance sympathetically to Cica before blowing another raspberry into her hand. 

“What is that?” said Keith, standing next to Lance. He gripped the back of the chair like he was preparing to use it as a weapon. His anger hovered at the edge of another outburst. Was he like allergic to chill or something? How could he stand being so angry all the time? 

“Cica, can you say hi?” said Lance, waving one of her hands at Keith. She frowned at Keith for a moment and then smacked Lance in the nose. Keith’s mouth twitched up so briefly, that Lance could’ve imagined it. But he was sure he hadn’t.

“Blue Paladin,” said one of the older princesses, sitting in the chair that Keith had a death grip on. Lance was pretty sure her name was Zinn. There were something like twenty-seven princesses, but she was the tallest with hair so black it almost looked blue. “Do you have many offspring?”

Cica reached both arms out to her sister and Lance handed her over. “No, just a few nieces and nephews.”

“I am not familiar with that term,” said Zinn, curiously. “But I see that you are most liked by the little ones. Will you have many of your own?”

The chair groaned at the force of Keith’s grip startling Lance even more than her question.

“I don’t know,” said Lance taken aback. “Maybe, someday.” 

He’d always imagined himself in the future with the whole white picket fence, 2.5 kids, yada yada. But then Voltron happened and his future became a lot more uncertain. But maybe, if it worked out in the future, he’d have kids if he could. He quickly pushed away the image of a little girl with Keith’s eyes. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Lance.

“I am most sorry,” said Zinn, glancing between Lance and Keith. “I did not want to keep you from dancing with your shaesa.”

“We weren’t—”

“No problem, Princess.” Lance stood up, putting his hand over Keith’s. “We still have the rest of the night.”

Lance took advantage of Keith’s surprise and pulled him out to the dance floor. Keith clung hard to Lance’s shoulders as they were swept up into the crowd.

“I don’t—Lance!” Keith stiffened as Lance dropped him into a low dip, before pulling him back up against his chest. 

“I can’t hear you, I’m having too much fun,” sang Lance as he led Keith across the floor, spinning like Yata taught him. 

He expected Keith to pull away, go back into some corner to sulk and leave Lance alone on the floor. But he didn’t. He stayed, hanging on Lance’s shoulders through the wild turns and fast footwork. His scowl fading until he laughed along while Lance threw out every ridiculous dance move he could think of. 

Lance spun Keith out suddenly, just to see what he’d do. Keith fell into his chest on the return, sending Lance falling backwards. They laughed and laughed trying to untangle themselves before they were accidentally stepped on. Where had this Keith been all along? Lance’s heart was full to bursting at the unfading smile across Keith’s face. 

When the music slowed, Keith closed the little space between them. His hands moved to Lance’s waist, as he tucked his face into Lance’s neck. 

“Admit it,” said Lance into Keith’s ear. “You like dancing.”

“Maybe a little.”

Lance took several deep breaths as his head exploded. Keith lifted his face to give Lance, a small embarrassed smile, his eyes wide and vulnerable. Lance could swear he saw stars reflected in Keith’s eyes. The rest of the room faded away—no one else mattered in this moment. He had never in his life wanted to kiss anyone so much.

“Oh, there you two are,” said Shiro. “We need to head back to the castle.”

Keith tensed, pulling out of Lance’s hold. The noise of the room shocked Lance, like he had been underwater, lost in Keith’s eyes. 

Keith gave a terse nod and Lance grabbed for his hand before he could run away. Lance was hit with that fluttery warm feeling again. Except…it wasn’t coming from him. Keith flashed him another one of those soft smiles as they followed behind Shiro. 

Holy quiznak. Maybe Pidge was right. Maybe…just maybe… Keith actually had feelings for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya'll are awesome! Kudos and comments give me life :)


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which, Lance has been such an idiot and it's totally Keith's fault. Kind of...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aha! Finally! I thought I was going to have to abandon during NaNoWriMo next month, but that would be horrible! I couldn't do that to you guys. So finally, I present the moment I thought would never come: the end.

“He’s not going!” yelled Keith. “It’s too soon, he’s not ready.”

“Yes, I am!” replied Lance. He moved in front of Shiro into Keith’s line of vision, since Keith was so insistent on talking like Lance wasn’t in the room. Well, he was, and he could talk for himself. 

And why was anyone even pretending to take Keith seriously right now? He looked totally ridiculous in the bottom half of his armor, with his stupid short jacket and no shirt. And Lance didn’t even feel bad for locking him out of their room like that. He could’ve gone back in there when Lance was finished and made himself look decent. Instead, he chased Lance all the way down the hallway trying to boss Lance around. Uh, no. Not happening.

“Keith,” said Shiro patiently as he stepped around Lance. “We’ve gone over this.”

“We need the Blue Lion, she’s the only one that can handle the cold on Sklotek, and you can’t fly the Blue Lion,” said Pidge. Lance stepped a little closer to her as a sign of solidarity. Because, as usual, Pidge was right. But this time it was in a way the benefitted Lance, so he was all about that life.

“Then I’m going with,” said Keith, crossing his arms. 

Shiro took a deep breath. “No, Allura and Pidge are going with Lance. We’re staying here on the Castle.”

“Then Lance isn’t going,” said Keith, glaring daggers at Shiro, just daring him to keep arguing. 

“Yes, I am!” 

Pidge grabbed one of Lance’s arms and only then had he realized that he’d clenched his hands into fists. 

They’d been talking about this forever! Yeah, at first it was kind of sweet that Keith was so concerned about Lance. And hey, if Lance got to stay back at the castle and play games on his tablet while Hunk and Pidge scouted out planets, that was totally cool. But not anymore. Not when Lance felt like he was totally useless to the team. He’d offered to help Coran with maintenance on the Lions, but then Keith banned him from doing that too after he burned his arm a little. That wasn’t even his fault! He wasn’t, like, goofing around or anything! He just lost his grip! It happens!

“Let’s just go,” said Pidge, pulling Lance towards the door. 

Keith lunged after them, but Shiro held out his arm to stop him. Lance had never seen Keith look at Shiro with so much anger. They still hadn’t gone back to normal after the whole Keith punching Shiro in the face thing. Keith wouldn’t even train with Shiro anymore, preferring to go alone—because obviously, he wasn’t going to let Lance go with him. But Lance also felt the guilt gnawing at Keith every time he and Shiro were in the same room. On top of that, Keith started having these nightmares that woke them both in the middle of the night. Keith brushed Lance off when he asked, his temper even shorter than usual. 

Lance had never felt so irritated in his life. When Keith was around, it’s like his stupid crazy anger poked and prodded at Lance until he was just as cranky. Not cool. He didn’t want to be a total sour patch kid like Keith! He thought that after their dance, Keith might have had like a real human feeling. Turns out he’s just a grumpy buttface!

“Don’t touch me,” growled Keith, pushing Shiro away.

“I’ve had it!” yelled Lance, he grabbed Keith by the hand. “We need to talk.”

Keith spluttered something his mood shifting into a whirl of confusion, but Lance didn’t care anymore. This had gone too far! 

Lance dragged Keith into the hallway and pushed him up against the wall. “What is your problem? You’ve been forcing me off missions for a week! I’m totally healed! Coran even scanned my entire body, like you asked, and I’m at 100%! I can do this.”

Keith shook his head. “You’re not ready to go alone.”

“I’m not even going alone!”

“No,” Keith insisted. 

Lance wanted to punch him in the face. Or was that Keith wanting to punch Lance in the face? Feelings were so confusing!

“I’m going. I’m part of this team, okay? And maybe I’m not, like, as good as you at freaking everything, but I can at least fly my lion!”

“That’s not what I meant,” said Keith, his voice quieter now. He lowered his eyes and took a step closer to Lance. “I know you’re a good pilot, this isn’t about whether or not you can do the mission—”

“Yes, it is! You don’t get to make decisions for me, that’s not how this works. I’m sick of being useless!”

Lance shook as his anger burned through his veins, pumping him with adrenaline. This time Keith couldn’t bully them into keeping Lance back at the castle. They needed the Blue Lion and as far as Lance knew, only he could fly her. He was not about to let Keith try—he already had everything, and Lance didn’t want to come second in flying his own lion. Blue chose him, not Keith. 

“You’re not—why would you even think that?”

“Because you keep telling me I’m not ready—that I can’t do my job! We’re the defenders of the Universe! We don’t get to just say ‘sorry your planet’s in danger, but Keith thinks Lance isn’t ready to help you’ like that’s a valid excuse. I’m totally fine! You’re the one that’s fighting with everyone and being a total jerk.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Keith struggling out of Lance’s grip. “I’m fine.”

“For once, stop pretending you’re okay! Just talk to me!” 

“I can’t lose you again!” yelled Keith, his eyes flashing as he looked up. “So, you’re staying with me, where you’ll be safe.”

Lance gaped at him, knowing full well that he probably looked like a fish out of water—not his most attractive look. But…what? Keith stepped back into the wall, his hand rubbing the back of his neck as he looked anywhere but Lance. He even went so far as to duck his head to hide his eyes, and tucked his hands under the short sides of his jacket like a shield. 

“If we didn’t have this…stupid bond, it wouldn’t matter. But it turns out that I can’t even function without you and that scares the hell out of me.” Keith spoke quickly, the words tumbling out of his mouth as spikes of embarrassment broke through his anger.

Lance really hoped Keith wasn’t feeling the same flood of affection bubbling up Lance’s chest. But he couldn’t help it.

“I need to do this. We don’t have any other options and saving the universe is kind of our whole gig. I’ll be okay.” 

Keith shook his head, still hiding behind his hair. Lance moved forward wrapping Keith in a tight hug feeling some of Keith’s tension fading away. Keith hesitated before returning the hug, clutching hard on Lance’s armor.

“I’ll be fine,” said Lance. “Trust me. Allura and Pidge will be there, so really, how much trouble can I get into?”

“Knowing you?” Keith raised an eyebrow. “A lot.”

“Hey, can I kiss you?” asked Lance, his brain clearly not functioning. 

Keith blinked about thirty times in one second and fell back against the wall. “Uh…w-why?”

“For luck?” Lance shrugged, trying to pretend that he wasn’t a nervous shaking mess. Why had he said that? What was he thinking? Clearly, he wasn’t thinking at all! 

“Luck?” repeated Keith faintly. He scratched the back of his neck, then crossed and uncrossed his arms a few times. “I guess.”

Lance nodded as butterflies took up the entirety of his chest. This was happening. They were actually going to kiss! Again! But this time they’ll both remember. 

“We might…want to move closer together. Like within reach, I’d think.”

Keith made a movement that looked like half a nod and Lance closed the distance, wishing that he had somewhere to hide his shaking hands. Okay, this was fine. He was just going to kiss Keith… no big deal… 

This was such a big deal. He couldn’t breathe, Keith was standing so close. Don’t pass out, Lance, that would be the worst way to possibly handle this. Just breathe and kiss Keith. He could pass out later in the comfort of Hunk’s room so that Pidge couldn’t laugh at him forever. 

Keith crossed his arms again, staring around the hallway like it had suddenly become super interesting. “Now…what?” he said, his voice sounding strained.

Lance gently pushed Keith’s arms down until he uncrossed them. Instead, they hung stiffly at his sides, his entire body tensed to run. Not exactly what Lance wanted in someone he had just asked to kiss. 

“We don’t have to, if you don’t want to. It was just—”

“No, it’s—this is fine. I mean, it’s fine. I do...I want to,” said Keith shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.

Lance took a deep breath and leaned forward. Keith mirrored the movement, his eyes fluttering closed. Lance could feel Keith’s breath. They were so close now, and Lance put his hands on Keith’s hips to steady himself. He tilted his head and—

The control room door slid open and Keith moved around Lance so quickly that Lance overbalanced and flailed his arms to stay on his feet. 

“Hey Pidge,” said Lance, his arms straight up in the air as he turned to the door. He dropped them to the top of his head in a panic, like that would look any less ridiculous. From the look she gave him, it hadn’t worked in the slightest.

Keith had made it almost to the end of the hallway, pacing in a circle with his arms crossed like it would help hide the blush that went all the way down his chest. Lance turned away immediately to stop his eyes from tracking exactly how deep Keith was blushing. Did he ever wear a shirt? How was Lance supposed to live like this?

“Are you ready to go?” asked Pidge, very slowly with her eyebrows raised. 

“Yep, totally ready, we weren’t doing anything. Not a single thing, I’m actually just going to leave—I don’t even know what I’m doing here still—I’m so ready to go. Bye, Keith.” Lance took off running without so much as a backwards glance at Keith.

“This is just getting pathetic,” said Pidge as soon as they met Allura in Blue’s hangar.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Lance, jumping past her into Blue’s open mouth. 

“It’s like you’re both determined to torture yourselves.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Allura, following Lance. 

He took a seat and pretended to adjust some of the controls. Thanks a lot, Pidge. Was it really necessary to get Allura involved now too?

“Just how Lance and Keith are oblivious idiots that would rather torture themselves than admit their own feelings,” said Pidge with a smirk. 

“I had noticed that you two were quite private with your feelings,” said Allura. “Many other shaesa tend to be a little more forward at showing affection toward their bondmate. But you were quite similar before the bonding ceremony, so I didn’t think that it was out of place.”

“I’m sure other shaesa actually know they’re into each other before they get bonded too,” said Pidge as Lance took off. He had to jerk the controls to keep them from accidentally banging into the castle.

“Betrayal, Pidge!”

“What is that supposed to mean?” asked Allura, glancing between them. “I thought you and Keith were—”

“Nothing, we’re just fine,” said Lance hastily as Coran appeared on a comm screen with Hunk. “Are the coordinates already loaded? We’re, like, all good to go, right?”

“Yes, it shouldn’t take you more than half a varga to reach the Hyrenth system and Sklotek is the largest planet—hard to miss.”

“Why’s your face all red?” asked Hunk, leaning closer to the screen. 

“It’s not,” grumbled Lance. He could practically hear Pidge smirking.

Shiro leaned into view, and oh, great, that’s just what he needed. “If you’re not feeling up to it, Lance, we can save this mission for another day. You don’t have to prove anything if you’re not ready.”

“Oh, he’s ready,” said Pidge, sounding far too pleased. She turned off the screen and whirled around to Lance. “To sit in a tree with Keith…K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

Lance narrowly avoided colliding into a stray meteor. “You can’t just drop that on someone!”

“Come on, Lance we all saw you two dancing at the ball. You have to know that Keith is totally heels over jetpack for you.”

“Yes, he is quite enamored with you,” said Allura. She frowned slightly. “Of course, you already knew that?”

“Or like, I don’t know, we accidentally got magically bonded because I had a huge crush on him and it forced him into liking me back.” Blue made a growling sound that sounded like a robotic snort. Okay, rude.

“But you can’t force a bond,” said Allura, her hand on Lance’s shoulder. “Only true love gives the Meilian the power, or else it wouldn’t be so rare.”

Lance’s mind spun. But that couldn’t be… That would have meant that Keith had feelings too, even before they landed on Heiloth to begin with. Maybe it wasn’t his fault after all. But that was…impossible! Keith didn’t even like him. They were always fighting and bickering, snarling out insults. Lance couldn’t do anything without Keith showing him up and rubbing it in his face. Well, it used to be like that, back when they were first on the castle. It was always Keith who’d find him hiding in the observatory when he felt his most homesick. And there were the mornings when Keith would hold on so tightly while Lance was only half awake. And the late nights whispering secrets into the dark. Those soft smiles and the warm feelings Keith saved just for Lance.

Holy quiznak. Keith loved him. How could Lance have taken so long to notice? He was half of the equation! 

“Finally figure it out, then?” asked Pidge, knocking hard on the top of his helmet. 

“Exactly how long is this mission going to take?” His voice sounding breathless. 

“Not very long,” said Allura. He pretended not to see the high-five Pidge gave her behind his back. 

 

 

“Where’s Keith?” asked Lance as he caught sight of Hunk and Shiro waiting for them in Blue’s hangar. The mission had gone really well, they were just gathering intel and making more alliances. No Galra to deal with, just some really cold temperatures and aliens that kind of looked like polar bears with sharp silver beaks and flat, beaver-like tails. 

Even though Allura assured him that the suits would prevent frostbite, his almost entirely numb body did not agree. They still had to debrief to plan out the next mission, but what Lance really wanted was hot chocolate and a nap. And preferably Keith curled up with him. 

A Keith that actually probably loved him back. His soulmate. Whoa. Mind blowing. 

Hunk pointed at Red, her mouth opening as Lance stepped off of Blue’s ramp. “He’s been in there since you left.”

“Go ahead,” said Allura gently, pushing Pidge to keep moving. “I think we can debrief without you this time.”

Lance managed to keep himself from running across the hangar to the Red lion. As soon as he stepped onto Red’s ramp he could feel the mixed worry and relief coming from Keith, as well as Red’s gentle irritation. Blue’s soft reassurances pushed Lance to keep moving. The cockpit was dimly lit by a few of the back lights. Lance blinked a few times until his eyes adjusted and saw Keith’s messy hair poking out from the side of the chair

“Honey, I’m home,” said Lance, leaning over the pilot’s seat. 

Keith was curled up like a cat with his head on the armrest, staring at the blank control screens. He wore Lance’s jacket, his hands lost in the sleeves. Lance tried to keep himself in check. They wore each other’s clothes now? He couldn’t say that he was opposed. The opposite, actually.

“Not even a scratch,” said Lance, moving forward and poking at Keith’s side. “So, can you uncurl, grumpy cat? I’m starved. They tried to feed us this frozen alien fish, but no way. It was like a brick! I’d break all my teeth trying to eat that thing.”

Keith blinked a few times but otherwise didn’t move at all. His blank face didn’t hide the flashing worry, irritation, fear, and relief in a dizzying speed.

“You can’t get all sulky every time I leave,” said Lance nudging Keith until he finally sat up. “I wasn’t even gone that long.”

“I’m not sulky,” grumbled Keith, flipping up the hood on Lance’s jacket and wrapping it tighter around himself. “I knew you’d be fine.”

Lance dropped himself into Keith’s lap and pulled him into a hug. “I missed you too, babe.”

“Your hands are freezing,” squawked Keith as Lance tucked them under Keith’s shirt, seeking heat.

“Wanna warm me up?” Lance winked and Keith’s face flushed red. 

Maybe not the most appropriate thing to say while his hands were still in Keith’s shirt…getting way too ahead of himself with that one. Change the subject, change the subject, anything… 

“Hey, I didn’t even get to tell you because you were being so grouchy this week, but Hunk finished the prototypes for those hoverboards he was working on.”

“S-so?”

“We should probably test them out. For science.”

Keith relaxed just slightly into Lance’s hug, while an uncomfortably hot feeling surged up Lance’s spine. He was probably just defrosting. Maybe a little quicker than normal, but who could blame him when Keith was so close, and wearing his jacket? Seriously, Lance wanted him to wear it all the time now. He’d willingly sacrifice his own warmth to see Keith in his jacket. Wow, he loved this boy.

“The ones that Allura and Shiro told us we weren’t allowed to—”

“Are you worried that I’ll beat you?” he said into Keith’s hair. 

Keith made a low grumbling noise. “Maybe in your dreams.”

“Prove it. I’ve been surfing since before I could walk.”

Keith reached up and pulled Lance’s helmet off all the way. He stared at Lance like he was waiting for something, that fluttery butterfly feeling swelling in Lance’s lungs.

Keith let out a long exhale and the next thing Lance knew, lips were on his, licking fire into his mouth. Lance only hesitated a second before clutching Keith harder, pulling him closer. Fire seared from Lance’s toes and out the tips of his fingers. Every nerve burning as they kissed and kissed, and he grabbed the back of Keith’s knees—needed more, needed him closer. He shifted too far, falling off the chair. Keith gasped into his mouth but he didn’t stop kissing and Lance didn’t care about the dull ache in his knee. 

Blinding lights illuminated Red’s cockpit, and Lance sat up in a panic shielding his eyes. Keith laid on the ground, his feet up on the chair, breathing like he’d just run a marathon and running his fingers over his swollen lips. Lance rubbed his knee that hurt a lot more now that he wasn’t all wrapped up in Keith. He peeked around the chair, but no one had walked in. Red gave a loud grumble that felt a lot like a scolding. Wow, he was getting told off for making out by a robot lion. As if he wasn’t already embarrassed enough.

“For…luck,” breathed Keith. “Because we didn’t…before…so, hoverboards? That’s cool.”

“Yeah, I guess. Hey, um…” Lance took a deep breath. He could do this. “Do you maybe want to, like, do something later…just us?”

“Sure, I don’t care, whatever you want,” said Keith, glancing at a point somewhere above Lance’s shoulder.

“Uh... Like, I don’t know, have dinner, or watch a movie, or something? Maybe, like a date?” asked Lance quickly. 

He could feel the realization hitting Keith, and the hot tight feeling that followed. 

“Don’t do that,” said Lance cringing. 

“Do what?” demanded Keith, his hands shaking as he pulled away from Lance. The sharp anxious feeling intensified making Lance’s head spin.

“That! What kind of feeling is that supposed to be?”

Keith’s emotions shifted abruptly into something cold and suspicious. “You can…you feel it too?” he said. 

Lance sat up. “Uh…yeah? I’ve been able to feel your feelings since…the bond, I think.”

Keith moved further away, staring at the ground like he wanted it to open up and swallow him whole. His eyes flicked up to Lance’s for a moment and he crossed his arms in front of him like a shield. 

“Oh... You don’t have to pretend, just because you don’t feel the same way. I brought you to that tree to prove that it wasn’t worth ruining the team because I was stupid enough to fall in love with you. But all it did was force you to fall in love with me. And that’s not—I never wanted that, no matter what I was…”

“I love you,” said Lance, the words slipping out easily. He reached slowly out to Keith and put his hand on the back of Keith’s neck, right over the bond mark. “We’re so stupid. You know, we could have been doing this the whole time.”

“Wh-what are you talking about? You’re just—”

“Just so handsome and out of your league? Nah,” said Lance. “Turns out that tree knew before we did. But I mean, I thought…since we did this kind of…ah, backwards. Maybe we could test out the whole dating thing?”

“But…” spluttered Keith. “You love…me?”

And then they were kissing, and Lance’s hands were in Keith’s hair, while Keith’s hands clutched hard into Lance’s hips.

Red let out another growl that had them breaking apart. 

“Maybe…somewhere else?” suggested Lance, his brain feeling fuzzy.

Keith nodded, a grin plastered across his face. “I think so, yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally!! They are in love and all is good in the Universe!  
> We'll see if I can manage a sequel in a few months...


End file.
